


Being With You

by LindyGale



Series: Being Together Forever (ChibaHaya Trilogy) [1]
Category: Assassination Classroom
Genre: F/M, Fanfiction Comedy (MICF), Middle School, Prompt Fic, Slow Romance, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:42:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 49,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26020585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LindyGale/pseuds/LindyGale
Summary: * REVISED *This is a story of friendship, respect, and love between the sniper duo of Class E, Chiba Ryuunosuke and Hayami Rinka, beginning the start of the assassination classroom until their graduation.
Relationships: Chiba Ryuunosuke & Hayami Rinka, Chiba Ryuunosuke/Hayami Rinka
Series: Being Together Forever (ChibaHaya Trilogy) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1938361
Comments: 11
Kudos: 69





	1. 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝

Greetings! 

This is the author of this work, Lindy Gale. This fanfiction is based on the anime and manga, Assassination Classroom, which belongs to its manga author - Yūsei Matsui and to the anime's producer. 

It's a bit late for me to start this story but I've recently rewatched the series which gave me the inspiration to write this story especially since I'm a big fan of the sniper duo, Chiba and Hayami. So please excuse me for being outdated on this one. 

For my old readers, you would already know that this story has been revised. I would like to thank you for your support and respect to my choice. Thank you for your understanding and patience. 

So from now on, you will be reading the revamped chapters. You will notice a lot of changes - new scenes, presentation, writing style, etc. - but the main plot is still intact. 

Now I won't be saying anything further. I hope you will like it. 

Please enjoy! 


	2. ℙℝ𝕆𝕃𝕆𝔾𝕌𝔼

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the reads and kudos. Special thanks to those who shared their comments on my story!

**－ ＮＯＶＥＭＢＥＲ －  
** _𝟏𝐬𝐭 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡_

Before Hayami could make up an excuse to decline Fujiwara's invitation, he had already pulled her wrist towards the gymnasium. The place was packed beyond her comfort as well as bursting with excited chatter.

Who wouldn't though if the one playing today at the school festival were the members of the Light Music Club?

They stood on the empty space in the back. Luckily enough, they still have a full view of the stage.

"I heard that the drummer is the son of a member of a famous band called _Ladies' Men._ He was even approached by agents of big-time industries because of his talent. Can you believe that?" Fujiwara babbled as he kept his eyes forward on the stage, eager to the core to finally see his _senpai_ perform.

Hayami simply smiled since she was not familiar with rock bands and the music industry. She, then, glanced at the stage just as the band members positioned themselves, their appearances almost concealed by the smokescreen effects.

"What's up, elites of the Kunugigaoka Junior High!" the vocalist bellowed on the microphone, causing an uproar from the audience. "Let's get started, shall we?"

When he had strummed his guitar and the drummer had tapped the cymbals, everyone broke into excitement. All except for Hayami.

She remained watching their performance when her gaze landed on the bassist player. He has raven hair that was gelled up like a shark's fin. Because of the fog and the colorful bright lights, she couldn't clearly see his face. But his odd hairstyle was not the one that has made her drill holes in him. It was because he looked so full of energy playing by the side, and because of how his fingers were plucking the strings of the bass guitar so nimbly that it reminded her of the way she felt about doing jazz dance.

 _'Cool,'_ she thought as an impressed breath escaped her lips.

After the performance, Fujiwara once again dragged Hayami backstage to greet his drummer _senpai_. It was his dream to join the Light Music Club as a drummer, but due to the overwhelming academic standards of the school, he couldn't afford to reduce his study time for his passion for music.

* * *

As soon as Chiba stepped off the stage, one of the students in charge of the backstage flinched upon seeing his face. The student sped off while avoiding eye contact.

With a sigh, he put down his hair to cover the upper half of his face. On-stage, people were too distracted with the music and the crowd to notice his intense gaze within his maroon red orbs. Off-stage, they treated him as if he were a ghost, unnerving to look at and scary to come near to.

That's why he grew out his bangs to hide his eyes although they found his new 'emo' look creepy regardless.

He guessed that was better than scaring everyone off. At least his classmates have been approaching him even though it was not to befriend him but, rather, to take advantage of him by asking a dozen favors.

"Great job, everyone!" the vocalist hollered, addressing even the stage crew.

Then a boy with caramel hair swept in the back, together with a girl with tangerine-like waves resting on her shoulders. The caramel hair's face lit up at the sight of the club's drummer, bumping into Chiba's arm as he passed by.

"Sorry," the boy uttered quickly before calling out the drummer's name.

Chiba turned to the quiet stoic-faced girl trailing behind her caramel-haired friend, who was busy adoring his drummer _senpai_.

Her emerald eyes, then, flitted towards him. He felt his breath hitched in his throat. Somehow, she managed to meet his gaze that was concealed beneath his fringe.

And in contrast to the usual reaction of other people, she gave him a brief nod before going to her friend's side.

It was as if she could actually see him for who he is.

What they didn't know was their little encounter would have a next one – a bigger one, that is, which involved assassinating their supernatural homeroom teacher. 


	3. 【1】𝔸𝕊𝕊𝔸𝕊𝕊𝕀ℕ𝔸𝕋𝕀𝕆ℕ 𝔸ℙℝ𝕀𝕃

## ▢

## 1.1

**【𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝙰𝚜𝚜𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝙲𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚖】**

⋆★⋆

A man in a black suit strode in through the door and stopped on the center of the podium. Another two employees in similar attire – one with a gun – followed him inside and stood beside him.

Sitting on the chairs before them were the Class 3-E students of Kunugigaoka Junior High. They were known as the school's misfits since they have failed their grades in the previous year. Because of that, they were transferred to this class in the isolated old building, which was located on top of the mountain one kilometer away from the school's main campus. Since then, they have been suffering from the discrimination and criticisms of everyone in this school.

With every student droning their gazes on their visitors, the man began to introduce himself, "My name is Tadaomi Karasuma. I work for the Ministry of Defense. Please understand that what I am about to say is classified government information."

His stiff expression shifted with caution when a yellow creature had whizzed beside him. The said creature has a cartoonish smile plastered on its face with several tentacles on its body. It was clad in a remarkable black academic dress alongside a small black cap with a yellow tassel and out-of-place large black tie that has an imprint of a yellow crescent-shaped moon.

"Nice to meet you. I'm the one who blew up the moon. I also plan to blow up the earth next year. Since I'll be your homeroom teacher, I look forward to working with you."

Dozens of questions bombarded the minds of every student in Class E. They had already been briefed about this by the school chairman, but that does not mean that they already perfectly understood the current situation – especially after seeing this creature that seemed to be out-of-this-world.

Seriously, couldn't they have some time to butt in with their comments?

Even Karasuma was irked at the octopus-like creature's sudden intrusion and revelation of information without pause. And yet, he opted to not do anything but to proceed.

"Now, cutting straight to the point. I want you to kill this monster," he added.

After giving out further details of the assassination mission, their strange visitors finally exited the premises of the building leaving them to spend the rest of the day normally. For now.

"Ten billion yen..." Rio Nakamura murmured with a smirk. "With that money, I don't need to study anymore!" she blurted.

Yuuma Isogai, who was sitting on the first row diagonally from her, got up from his seat to face the class. As a class representative, he must make sure that his classmates have fully grasped the circumstances of their mission.

"Everyone, our mission to _kill_ is not an easy thing to do. That's why you should properly think about it first before agreeing to this."

◈◈◈

The rest of the day was spent discussing the pros and cons of the mission assigned to them. Exchanges were held between the students, dividing the class into two opposing sides.

Although there were those who still could not make up their mind. Even Rinka Hayami, known to be aloof and stoic, was still debating over her stance on this. Her blonde classmate was right; the reward money should be enough for them to live by even without going to school. But ending a life in exchange for earth's peace, was it really the right thing to do?

She glanced at the boy erasing the writings on the board – Ryuunosuke Chiba. Like her, he was assigned to class duty today.

They had not talked to each other before save for a few exchanged words that were school-related. All she knew about him was that his eyes were always hidden and that he sat behind Taiga Okajima, her right seatmate.

"Chiba-san," she called out in a mature yet monotone voice.

The black-haired boy looked over his shoulder, revealing long bangs covering half of his face. His gaze settled on her slender upright figure, orange waves hanging on her shoulders, while she wrote the class daily report.

"Are you going to participate in the assassination?" she asked.

He turned back to his task. "Why not? It's not like we have anything better to do," he said as a matter-of-fact.

He has a point. Who knows, the assassination classroom could be a blessing in disguise. They probably might get something out of it besides the cash prize.

But they could only hope. For the better or worse.

"At least we're saving the earth," she said more so to persuade herself.

He hummed in reply.

She has to admit though that she was somewhat looking forward to this mission as well as to their bizarre new homeroom teacher.

 _'I wonder what happened to our previous homeroom teacher,'_ she thought.

When they had finished, they went down the mountain together.Side-by-side they trudged the dirt path in silence, wallowing in the rustling of the leaves and the cool air beneath the boundless green shade. Both of them were perfectly fine with the lack of talk, merely conversing through eye-contact, pointing, and a few words. And yet they were bothered that maybe the other was feeling awkward in their quiet walk.

They finally reached the school gate. Hayami lifted her hand for a small wave as she said, "Goodbye, Chiba-san."

Chiba gave her a smile. "Yeah. See you tomorrow."

When both had turned around in opposite directions, Hayami began to think that after spending a short time with her taciturn male classmate, maybe, there was another thing that she could look forward to. 

* * *

## 1.2

**【𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙱𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝙼𝚊𝚛𝚔𝚜𝚖𝚎𝚗】**

⋆★⋆

Upon his request to the school's chairman, Karasuma became the P.E. teacher of Class 3-E so that he could supervise and train the students in their assassination.

For the past two weeks, he taught them knife combat and firearms shooting. And today, they were having a target practice shooting outside. The students were in two lines, each of them facing a target placed at a distance across them.

Some were using rifle guns while the rest were using pistols. Hayami preferred to use a pistol, its lighter weight giving her mobility when aiming. Right beside her was Chiba with a rifle.

"Whoa! I envy you, Hayami. Your shots are so accurate," Touka Yada blurted out as her brown ponytail swung behind. "All of your bullets hit the target and the bullseye. Mine, on the other hand..." She looked at her paper target in dismay. Two holes have pierced the outer circle almost to the edge while more BB pellets were sprawled across the ground.

' _More misses than hits, huh_ ,' she thought.

Overhearing Yada's praise, Chiba averted his gaze from his line of sight towards Hayami's target. Not only she was well-adept in using a knife in close combat, but she was also skilled in firearms shooting. He couldn't help but admire the orange-haired girl who was wearing a confident smile.

"Damn you, Chiba! You got all of your hits to the center. Just like a professional sniper," Okajima exclaimed as he gave Chiba a slap on his back.

Kotarou Takebayashi fixed his glasses and stared at Chiba's target, its center dot now ridden with bullet holes. "With this, we'll have a higher chance of killing our teacher," he said.

"Right?" Okajima placed his hand under his chin with a pondering expression. "Maybe your sniping skills can be used for another relevant purpose. Like peeking in the girl's restroom."

One hand up with the other still holding his gun, Chiba said, "I only want my skill to be used for the assassination."

It was Hayami's turn to look his way when Okajima and Takebayashi had left the raven hair, at last, completely engrossed in their discussion on how Chiba's sniping skill could be used for erotic stuff. With this, Chiba was now free to meet her gaze.

"Good job," said Hayami.

"Thanks. You too," Chiba replied with a nod.

Then both of them went back to shooting their targets.

  
  
◈◈◈

After dismissal, Hayami went to the shooting grounds for more practice. With her newfound skill, she needed to make sure that it became refined enough to be utilized well in the assassination.

She brought with her a container of ammo and target papers from the storage shed. Upon heading to the shooting grounds, she saw a raven-haired figure, with one knee on the ground, flawlessly taking down a line of tin cans.

She approached him, placing one hand on her waist. "That's amazing. Even from different angles, you can perfectly hit the targets."

Chiba's finger flinched at the sound of her voice. He lowered his gun as he lifted his head towards her. "Hayami-san," he muttered, surprised at her appearance here in this hour.

She took out her pistol and said, "Let's practice together."

Beside each other, they simultaneously fired at their targets when they heard a familiar peculiar laugh.

" _Nurufufufufu_... I can see that there are those who are diligent enough to take extra hours to practice. How admirable."

Their yellow octopus teacher flashed before them out-of-nowhere. He has been named as 'Korosensei' by one of their classmates, Kaede Kayano.

His two tentacles that seemed like his arms rubbed together as he stated further, "But please do not forget to do your homework when you get home."

Then Korosensei zoomed across the grounds with floating yellow balloons that have his smiling face appearing after his silhouette. The balloons, which replaced the tin cans they had been targeting earlier, were tied to a wooden beam.

"Since you two have clearly no problems shooting still objects, it will be better if you also practice on moving objects. After all, I, your target, can move at a speed of Mach 20," he explained.

The two stoic students shared a glance, a look of approval on their faces, before readying their weapons. Korosensei did his iconic laugh, amused to see their determination in facing this challenge.

After that, he blasted off to the sky and started calculating the distance and time it will take for him to arrive in the Philippines to buy its famous _ube_ jam.

Thirty minutes have passed when he returned with the said delicacy inside a paper bag. He tallied their successful shots – Hayami got seven balloons out of ten, while Chiba got nine.

Then they started shooting the tin cans being thrown into mid-air. Hayami shot nine out of ten and Chiba eight.

While Chiba had remained crouched down from a far distance, Hayami had made use of the space as she shot the targets down. With a fast-moving target, it would be efficient if one could move around while aiming.

"Chiba-san, your accuracy is definitely better than mine. No wonder you can shoot perfectly in a long-distance," Hayami said. "Respect."

"Your dynamic visual is also great. Respect to you for being able to hit moving targets precisely."

There was no doubt that their marksmanship was remarkable especially the 'work chemistry' between the two. Korosensei could not wait to see how they were going to apply this in their assassination.

"I suggest that you find more ways to challenge yourselves in shooting," he told his students, his one tentacle up. "It is also important to be aware of your own strengths and weaknesses, so when the time comes, you will be able to support each other well."

"Yes," they chorused and Korosensei let out a hearty laugh before taking off in a blink of an eye. 


	4. 【2】𝕄𝔼𝕄𝕆ℝ𝔸𝔹𝕃𝔼 𝕄𝔸𝕐

## ▢▢

## 2.1

**【𝙿𝚞𝚕𝚕 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚂𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚃𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚐𝚎𝚛】**

⋆★⋆

The lesson taught by Korosensei to polish their second blade was all for naught when they came across the unfamiliar questions added in the midterm exam. At that moment, they all knew that they were not going to make it to the top 50.

Since they failed to meet his demand – to reach the top 50 scores in the exam – they feared that their target would leave Class 3-E. But thanks to Karma Akabane's taunting, who also managed to rank 4th despite the unfavorable change on the exam questions, Korosensei took back his threat.

With this, everyone has a newly formed _bloodlust_ to make their comeback in the finals. Needless to say, Hayami was still feeling perturbed at her exam results which would certainly incur her mother's wrath were she to see this.

She felt like doing something to relieve her anxiety. For some reason, the first person she thought of approaching was Chiba.

After hiding her test papers inside her bag, she walked over to his seat. "Do you want to have a go?" she asked.

A smile formed on the corners of his mouth. He was thinking the same thing before she came. "Sure."

As they made their way out of the room, a few pairs of eyes trailed on them curiously.

"They sure are getting close recently," Yada pointed out.

Hands slammed on his forehead as he jerked back, Okajima fussed, "Damn Chiba, so lucky! I also want to become close with a girl!"

Yada gave him a look of disdain. "Well, that's not going to happen to _you_."

In front of Okajima and beside Yada, Koki Mimura turned around from his seat. "I can see why. They are both our top snipers and they have the same quiet personality," he said.

His left seatmate, Nakamura, crossed her arm across her chest, the other one standing with her index finger up. "What if they are dating? It could explain why they are always together," she said when her aqua blue eyes had glinted with mischief as she grinned.

She, then, stood up abruptly. "Let's go follow them," she declared before pulling Yada by her wrist.

Okajima let out a protest, "Hey, let me come with you!" Then he rushed after them.

Mimura sighed. He would rather not join their sleaziness and interfere with another's personal and private business. Although he wanted to stop them, he knew that it would take more than words to do that.

' _Poor Chiba and Hayami,'_ he thought.

◈◈◈

Sharing this silence with him brought enough comfort for her as they walked on the forest path. Warm sun rays spiked through the rustling leaves as the birds chirped and the wind blew her legs gently.

There was no need to talk about their failure. There was no need to shout out their frustrations. There was no need to cheer each other up.

Just this was enough.

They decided to go around the mountain and shoot the hidden targets that Korosensei had set up for them. Chiba was carrying a duffel bag containing anti-sensei pellets while holding a rifle. A gun holster girdled Hayami's right thigh with a telescope in her hands.

"There." She pointed to the far northwest as she raised the telescope towards him. Chiba leaned closer and took a peek through its lens. Using the rifle, he aimed for the target, which was almost hidden by the leaves while hanging on the branch.

They continued to trike up, shooting targets on the way until they reached higher ground. On a huge boulder, Chiba set down the bag as Hayami searched for the other targets with the telescope. When she had seen one a few meters away from their position, swinging from a tree, she extended her hand.

After passing her the rifle, Chiba looked through the telescope to see her hitting the target but missing the bullseye. She let out a disappointed huff before aiming again. He put down the telescope and hunched down beside her.

"Adjust the barrel to the line of sight." He inched closer and their arms touched. He tilted the gun downwards. "Like this. Then align your target to the center." Slowly, his hand traveled down the barrel to steady it until it made contact with her hand that was holding the trigger.

"Now after you lock onto the target, take a deep breath, and pull the trigger upon exhaling," he said. Then he leaned back to glance at her solemn and focused expression.

A serene smile hovered the edge of his mouth as he reveled in her beauty, one that Okajima would declare about whenever she entered his field of vision.

After releasing a breath, Hayami pulled the trigger. "Hit," she proclaimed with a satisfied look as shown through the glint in her eyes.

"Nice."

Behind the bushes down below, three pairs of prying eyes were gawking at the two snipers. Yada had released a gasp upon seeing the proximity between the pair with their hands by the trigger overlapping.

Okajima had grumbled incoherent words, filled with envy, while gnawing on his handkerchief.

"Ho ho ho... Now this is getting interesting," said Nakamura who had taken out her phone and had snapped some shots. "I'll definitely send this to Karma."

"But they didn't look flustered or seemed affected," Yada pointed out, a finger tapped on her chin.

Nakamura shoved her phone into her pocket. "Well, they are _professional_. If they are dating, they are good at hiding it."

Upon glancing over his right to where Yada was crouching, an idea sparked inside Okajima's mind. "Yada, let me hold your hand too," he begged with a lewd sneer.

Before Yada could react, something heavy had crashed to the ground near them. She jumped with a yelp which did not go unnoticed by their stalking victims.

"Korosensei?" Nakamura blurted out, her eyebrow raised.

Ahead of them and atop the boulder, Chiba clicked his tongue. "Missed," he muttered as he propped the rifle against his shoulder, aiming again at the yellow octopus, while Hayami raised her pistol.

Korosensei hastily got up in a panic with sweat forming on his head. "I guess I have been caught. Oh well. I already got some good stuff, might as well..." He let out a shriek when bullets started hailing down his direction. He evaded them simultaneously using his Mach 20 speed.

"To think that Korosensei also thought of following them," said Nakamura as she got up on her feet. "So he's the type who loves gossip."

Korosensei continued to dodge their shots with his green-striped condescending face. " _Nurufufufu._ I must admit that you two have gotten better but you are still miles away from landing a –" As he was about to finish, one bullet hit his hat, which fell down from his head.

Hayami, who had made the shot, was now skidding down the rocks with a gun and a knife. Chiba remained in his position and continued raining bullets to their target.

Korosensei swiftly caught his hat mid-air as he said, "Oops. I remember that there is a sale today in the supermarket. Sadly, I have to go. Bye!" Just as he had appeared, he vanished in a blink of an eye.

"Almost had it," Hayami stated when her eyes flickered to the spectating trio. "What are you doing here, Nakamura?" she asked.

The three flinched. Turning their heads from where Korosensei was, they gave Hayami, who was staring at them with a serious gaze, uneasy smiles.

"Hi, Hayami. Chiba-san. We are just passing by. Fancy running into you here," Yada reasoned.

"That's right!" interjected Nakamura. "Now we'll be on our way. Have fun, you two lovebirds!" She dragged Yada with her as she bolted away.

Okajima gave Chiba a thumbs-up before catching up to the two girls.

 _'They are acting weird,'_ Hayami thought.

When she had climbed back up on the boulder, Chiba was already packing up the rifle and pellet container. "Why do you think they were here?" she asked him.

He slung the duffel bag over his shoulder and handed her a water bottle. "I don't have a clue," he replied. Then he tilted his head, mulling over it when something dawned on him.

"They might be thinking that we are dating," he said right after.

Hayami had just taken a swig from the bottle when she said, "Don't they have better things to do?"

He shrugged.

She sighed and, as they made their way down, a small smirk landed on her lips. "Don't forget to buy me coffee later when we get to the main building," she said.

"Our scores are tied."

"You're wrong. Including Korosensei's hat, I got eleven out of ten."

His mouth slightly gaped. "That's unfair."

"It's not. He is our 'target', so that counts."

He leered over her eyes, which resembled the leaves enshrouding their surroundings. Similar to this forest, being with her made him feel at ease. And beneath her cold exterior, he found her kind-hearted and easy to work with.

"Alright. But that's only because I was actually impressed by your hit earlier," he said. 

◈◈◈

**\-----------------------------------------**  
𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐍𝐚𝐦𝐞: Nagisa-chan Fan Club

𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬:  
Rio Nakamura  
Karma Akabane  
Nagisa Shiota

𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞:7:20 PM

**\-----------------------------------------**

**ʀɪᴏ ɴᴀᴋᴀᴍᴜʀᴀ  
** Hey, Karma. I've found some juicy scoop today.

 **ᴋᴀʀᴍᴀ ᴀᴋᴀʙᴀɴᴇ  
** Eh ~ what is it??

**ɴᴀɢɪꜱᴀ ꜱʜɪᴏᴛᴀ  
** What is it this time? It better be not about me.

**ʀɪᴏ ɴᴀᴋᴀᴍᴜʀᴀ  
** Why not? It's fun to tease you >:)

Btw, here's the pic.

(っ◔◡◔)っ ♥ _(insert photo of Hayami and Chiba from the last scene)_ ♥

**ɴᴀɢɪꜱᴀ ꜱʜɪᴏᴛᴀ  
** Did you just spy on them? 0_0

**ʀɪᴏ ɴᴀᴋᴀᴍᴜʀᴀ  
** It's called Intelligence Gathering. Because of that, we are able   
to discover another one of Korosensei's weaknesses.

He was spying on them too. That means he likes gossip about   
his students.

**ɴᴀɢɪꜱᴀ ꜱʜɪᴏᴛᴀ  
** You know you just admitted that you were actually spying on them.

**ʀɪᴏ ɴᴀᴋᴀᴍᴜʀᴀ  
** My bad :p

**ᴋᴀʀᴍᴀ ᴀᴋᴀʙᴀɴᴇ  
** This is good material. Thanks, Nakamura.

**ʀɪᴏ ɴᴀᴋᴀᴍᴜʀᴀ  
** No problem ;)

 **  
**Also, they shot his hat when they caught him. Pretty  
impressive for an impromptu assassination.

**ᴋᴀʀᴍᴀ ᴀᴋᴀʙᴀɴᴇ:** Waah scary...

**ʀɪᴏ ɴᴀᴋᴀᴍᴜʀᴀ  
** Do you think that they're dating?

**ɴᴀɢɪꜱᴀ ꜱʜɪᴏᴛᴀ  
** Isn't it too soon to assume that? They probably just started to get to know each other.

**ᴋᴀʀᴍᴀ ᴀᴋᴀʙᴀɴᴇ  
** Nagisa-kun is right. I bet they only became close right now because of the assassination.

**ʀɪᴏ ɴᴀᴋᴀᴍᴜʀᴀ  
** Point taken. But it won't hurt to tease them.

**ᴋᴀʀᴍᴀ ᴀᴋᴀʙᴀɴᴇ  
** You read my mind :))))

**ɴᴀɢɪꜱᴀ ꜱʜɪᴏᴛᴀ  
** Maybe it's better if you leave them alone.

**ᴋᴀʀᴍᴀ ᴀᴋᴀʙᴀɴᴇ  
** What is this, Nagisa-kun? Do you want us to tease you instead?

**ʀɪᴏ ɴᴀᴋᴀᴍᴜʀᴀ  
** Don't worry, we will still have our fun ;)

**ɴᴀɢɪꜱᴀ ꜱʜɪᴏᴛᴀ  
** Just leave me alone TT_TT

* * *

## 2.2

**【𝙸𝚖𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚝𝚞 𝙿𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚝】**

**  
**

⋆★⋆

When Chiba and Hayami had entered the classroom from their early morning practice, Sosuke Sugaya delivered a piece of paper to Chiba on his seat.

"Here's my present for you," Sugaya said.

Chiba took a look at the paper. It was a drawing of him in dark colors, a murky sky embedded in the background with abstract swirls below. He was wearing the school uniform with his back turned as he glanced over his shoulder. On his arms was a rifle painted in a camouflage pattern. The lines of his features were roughly sketched, which gave an edge to his silhouette.

"Happy Birthday, Chiba," the aspiring artist added.

"Thank you," Chiba said as he took the gift from his hand.

"Whoa, that's badass!" Okajima exclaimed from his seat with an outstretched neck.

Chiba nodded. "Yeah. I really like it."

Flattered, Sugaya rubbed his nose as he placed his other hand on his hip. "Thanks, guys. I'm glad that you think that way," he said sheepishly.

"Ooh ~ it's Chiba-kun's birthday?" Nakamura got up from her seat before throwing an accusatory look at Sugaya. "You should've told us, so we could've prepared something," she told him.

He was jolted. "Hey, it's not as if I have everyone's numbers," he contented.

Ignoring him, Nakamura turned to the birthday celebrant. "Happy Birthday, Chiba!" she chirped.

The other students of Class 3-E followed her example and expressed their greetings to Chiba, who thanked them in return. Following that, Korosensei dashed into the room out of thin air. He greeted the celebrant bombastically before placing a cake on his desk.

This rendered everyone speechless. For a teacher, their target was too doting on his students.

Then they sang the 'Happy Birthday Song'. Meanwhile, Hayami was baffled at the fact that today, May 20, was his birthday. She did not know so she did not have a gift for him.

Chiba noticed that Hayami was the only one who did not approach him yet. He shifted his head to where she was sitting, her back facing him.

 _'Is she alright?'_ he asked himself.

"Let's have a LINE group for our class," Megu Kataoka proclaimed. She was the class representative besides Isogai. "That way, we can communicate with everyone."

Hinata Okano clapped her hands together. "That's a good idea. We can also use it to talk about our assassination."

◈◈◈

Hayami has not said anything to him since they left the old building after class. Although it was normal for her, he could tell that this was a different kind of quiet.

"I didn't know today is your birthday." Finally, she broke the silence, her eyes on the ground. "I should've bought you a present."

"You don't have to," Chiba simply said. So that's why she was acting that way.

For some reason, he did not give much regard to birthdays. In fact, he would not be bothered if his birthday was not celebrated.

As for Hayami, she gave importance to celebrating one's birthday especially if the person who has it was close to her. That's why she would not let this day end without her doing something.

She halted as they reached the school gate. She looked up at him. "Before you go, can you wait for me by the convenience store?"

While she was buying inside, Chiba stood idly outside the store. A few minutes later, he heard a ding and the sound of the doors sliding. Stepping out was Hayami with a blue lollipop in her hand.

"As I thought, it doesn't feel right if I don't give you something," she said as she extended the candy towards him.

"Happy Birthday, Chiba-san."

It was somewhat unexpected for her to do this sort of thing. Touched by her gesture, he took her 'present' as a gentle and happier smile graced his face.

"Thank you." 

* * *

## 2.3

**【𝚂𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙳𝚒𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚝】**

⋆★⋆

The second day of their school trip to Kyoto was supposed to be an optimal chance for them to assist a professional sniper called Red Eye in killing Korosensei. Everyone worked hard in coming up with ideas and planning out the perfect location where the sniper could execute his assassination.

And just like their previous attempts, Korosensei was able to evade the shots. Based on experience, they were sure that he had already foreseen what was coming to him that day.

Feeling dismayed at their failure, they went back to the inn before night fell. They must admit though that they still had fun going around the places in Kyoto that they have researched about.

After dinner, the girls and boys took their baths separately. Hayami quickly left the hot springs when Nakamura had begun groping the girls' breasts. She wrapped herself in a towel and went to the dressing area where she put on a robe.

She, then, thought to buy herself a hot drink, so she slid the door open to see Chiba climbing down the stairs.

"Are you going to the vending machine?" she asked.

He nodded as a faint blush colored his cheeks at the sight of her fresh from a bath.

"Perfect timing. I'm also on my way there." She trotted on her way and walked by his side towards the end of the corridor.

They both pored over the drinks inside the machine. "What are you getting?" Chiba asked her with a smile.

"Black tea."

This took him by a slight surprise. "Same." Then he pressed the button for their drinks.

After getting the two bottles from the chute, they took a seat on the wooden bench beside the vending machine. They were quiet as they simultaneously sipped and yet, neither wanted to go back to the room.

Hayami decided to speak since it'd be a waste if this moment would be spent without saying anything – "I wonder if I'll be able to sleep after drinking caffeine."

"I doubt we'll be able to sleep early with or without caffeine," said Chiba. With our class, they will surely cause a ruckus before going to sleep.

"You're right. Everyone is still energetic despite what we went through," she uttered, the corners of her mouth turned up.

It was a wonder that no one was tired yet with all the preparations they had done for the past week and the time they had spent going around Kyoto all day. Even Karasuma, who was working full time in the ministry while looking after them as their teacher, did not show a bit of fatigue.

"Maybe because of our physical training," Chiba said.

"Yeah. We indeed have become more active."

Now that their drinks were empty, they started thinking if it was okay to go back especially since both of them did not know what to say further.

Across the corridor, Okajima and Nagisa Shiota caught sight of the two. Sitting together with no one else around, a feeling of jealousy stirred up inside the perverted boy, which was sensed by his blue-haired companion.

"Oi, Chiba! All the boys are gathering up. You better go back!" Okajima yelled with his hand raised.

Hayami turned towards Chiba and asked "Shall we go?" to which he answered with a nod. They both got up and tossed their cans to the trash bin before heading back to their rooms.

◈◈◈

A beam flashed on Okajima's face upon seeing Hayami sitting alone by the window. Today, they were about to depart to Kyoto Station and go back to Tokyo.

He rushed to her as he exclaimed, "Hayami, let me sit beside you!"

His face was greeted by a bag that Hayami has shoved to him. She would have been fine with him beside her were it not for his scheming expression.

When Nakamura was passing by the aisle, she caught wind of Hayami getting rid of Okajima, who was trying to squeeze himself on the empty seat. Then she saw Chiba climb in on the bus, which sparked an idea inside her mind.

She grabbed his arm and dragged him to where the chaos was. "It should be fine if it's Chiba, right?" the blonde prankster gave the speechless Hayami a wink before pushing the semi-bald pervert further away to the back. "Come on, idiot. You're blocking the way," she berated.

Chiba scratched his cheek while standing there as if telepathically asking for Hayami's permission to take the seat. She whipped her head away and scooted back to the window seat, impliedly telling him that he was welcome to.

 _'I wonder why Okajima is being aggressive to me lately,'_ she thought as she leaned on the window, propping her arm up. _'I'll have to thank Rio later for what she did.'_

Recently, Okajima has been honing his attention to her compared to the other girls. He would badger her to eat lunch or walk to the school gate with him. Thankfully, Yada and Sumire Hara would save her skin by inviting her to eat with them until she, on her own, would join their table casually during lunch.

She was also relieved that she has an after school practice with Chiba and it was already an established norm for them to walk down the mountain together every day. With this, she could decline the semi-bald's offer with no problem.

During class, Okajima would sometimes drop his eraser, hoping to arrange a 'holding hand moment' if she picked it up. But it would end up in vain as either Korosensei or Chiba would get it for him instead.

_Is it because I'm the closest one being his seatmate? But Kanzaki-san also sits beside him on his right. It would make more sense if he focuses on her instead._

Before she could make any assumptions, an earplug appeared from the corner of her eye. Her eyes darted towards Chiba, who was listening to music during the ride.

She accepted his offer, taking the earplug gingerly and putting it on. As soon as a hardcore punk song exploded her eardrums, she removed the earplug without adieu.

"You like punk?" she asked with a blank look as she returned it to him.

"Mm." He glanced down the earplug on his palm and, then, at her. "Was it not to your liking?"

"It's too much for me."

That's what people would normally say about the genre. "What music do you like then?" he asked.

"I don't really listen to music –" then she recalled something "– although I know how to do jazz dance."

A smile hovered on the edge of his lips, finding it impressive for her to have that skill. "I'd like to see you do it someday," he said.

She faced the front while fixing her hair behind her ear. "If an opportunity allows it." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! 
> 
> I've already published the first two chapters. This is now the new style for this fanfic and I hope that you guys liked it. 
> 
> Also, notice some changes in the details and how I gave more context and descriptions to the situations or chapter parts. This is the main reason why I did the revision. I want you guys to be able to picture the scenes of the story and, I guess, immerse yourself in the story (if the changes did the trick). 
> 
> I admit that it took a lot of effort but still I enjoyed doing all of it. You might think that I probably have a lot of time on my hands. Well, sadly, I don't. Doing this story is a good breather though! 
> 
> Anyway, the story will have twelve chapters, one chapter per month of assassination since the time duration of the anime/manga is one year (12 months). Each chapter is separated into parts. 
> 
> I actually deleted all of the scenes so that's why my reads, votes, and comments have decreased a lot. I really don't mind since I only want what is best for this story and for my readers. 
> 
> Without adieu, I'll be off once again to continue writing (and doing my other responsibilities ugh). 
> 
> Till the next chapter!


	5. 【3】𝕁𝕌ℕ𝔼 𝕁𝕀𝕋𝕋𝔼ℝ𝕊

## ▢▢▢

## 3.1

【 **𝚃𝚎𝚡𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙰𝚗𝚡𝚒𝚎𝚝𝚢** 】

⋆★⋆

When they had humiliated Class 3-E's gigolo named Hiroto Maehara, his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend got a taste of their own medicine as conducted by Korosensei and executed by several of his classmates.

Hayami and Chiba were both glad that they had been chosen to take part in the retaliation. Because of that, they have become more confident in their skills, used in something else other than assassination.

The operation was a success with the couple having ended up fighting over the bathroom. After enjoying the spectacle, the perpetrators went on separate ways except for the two snipers.

While walking to the bus stop, tiny droplets of rain began to drizzle from the dark gray sky. The stoic pair each opened their umbrellas just as the rain came pouring heavily.

Hayami began to say something, only for her voice to be drowned by the pitter-patter of raindrops. Chiba looked at her bemusedly.

She frowned and, then, stepped closer to his side while closing her umbrella. "There's going to be a quiz next week on Trigonometry," she repeated as she glanced at him.

Tilting the umbrella towards her, he said ruefully, "And one in Current Events." Even though he could manage the Japanese subject overall, he wanted to improve his grades further.

After a few more steps, the sensation of her arm brushed against his. It brought butterflies to his stomach and more comfort, in addition to the weather, although it didn't show on his face.

She, then, stopped abruptly and turned to face him. "You're good at Math, right? Why don't we teach each other subjects that we're good at?" she asked, which she followed it with, "Korosensei told us that we should learn how to support each other's weaknesses."

His face lightened, glancing at her face that was close-up due to their proximity. "Good idea," he said with a nod.

Combing through her bag, she took out her phone. "Let's exchange numbers so we can discuss when and where we are going to study together," she said.

After saving each other's LINE accounts, they continued to the bus stop. When the bus had arrived, Hayami started to climb in before looking over her shoulder. "Take care," she said as she gave him a wave while the doors closed behind her.

He waved back before turning around. He stared at his phone with her number flashed on the screen.

Even though the class already has a group chat, he and Hayami for some reason didn't have each other's numbers till now. That's why it brought him a tingly feeling having her number although this wouldn't be his first time getting a girl's number.

 _'What makes her different?'_ he wondered.

  
  
◈◈◈

Hayami has been gaping at her phone for five minutes while lying on her bed. An hour ago, she messaged Chiba the time and place they were going to meet tomorrow.

And he did not reply yet since even after she had taken a bath. She could not help but think that something happened to him.

Then the _Autonomously Intelligent Fixed Artillery (AIFA)_ , or known as Ritsu, popped out on her screen in pajamas. "Hello there, Hayami. I have noticed that you have been staring at your phone even though you are not using it," she said.

She was an AI machine that had been sent to the class last month to assassinate Korosensei. At first, she had been apathetic to everyone else, only focused on her objective to kill the target. With Korosensei's interference, she finally learned the value of cooperation and teamwork, which has made her an indispensable ally of the class.

A hint of shock was shown on Hayami's face. "Ritsu, you surprised me," she said.

Ritsu winked with a fist bump on her head and her tongue out. "Sorry."

"I sent a message to Chiba and he is not replying yet," Hayami explained. "I wonder if he is in trouble."

The AIFA let out a giggle. "Don't worry. He is not. In fact, when you sent him the message, he was listening to _Radiohead_ while doing homework. He finally saw your message twenty minutes ago and has started thinking about his reply. He has just finished typing his reply right now and..."

A notification appeared across the screen. Hayami sat right up. It was a reply from him.

 _'He mulled over it for twenty minutes?!'_ she thought in bafflement. She was also impressed at Ritsu's comprehensive narration of what happened.

Still, she felt relieved knowing that he was fine.

"I will leave you on your own then. See you tomorrow!" Ritsu gave her a salute before disappearing from her screen like it was nothing.

Hayami opened his LINE message. It said:

_OK._

It was like a huge rock had dropped on her shoulders. _This is what he came up with for twenty minutes?!_

She heaved a sigh as she sprawled back down and put the phone beside her on the bed. Staring up at the ceiling, she let out an amused snort. 

◈◈◈

**_\----------------------------------------_**  
𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐍𝐚𝐦𝐞:ChibaHaya Shippers

𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬:  
Rio Nakamura _(as Blonde Babes)_  
Hinano Kurahashi _(as Precious Beetles)_  
Yuzuki Fuwa _(as Detective Fuwa)_  
Touka Yada _(as Sexy)_

𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞:8:15 PM  
 ** _\----------------------------------------_**

**ʙʟᴏɴᴅᴇ ʙᴀʙᴇꜱ**   
Hey Touka. You have a dance session with Rinka tomorrow, right?

**ꜱᴇxʏ  
** Yeah. Why?

**ʙʟᴏɴᴅᴇ ʙᴀʙᴇꜱ  
** I bet she's not going to come. Ask her.

**ꜱᴇxʏ  
** Uhhm... how are you sure?

**ʙʟᴏɴᴅᴇ ʙᴀʙᴇꜱ  
** I was on my way home when I saw her and Chiba-kun together.

**ᴘʀᴇᴄɪᴏᴜꜱ ʙᴇᴇᴛʟᴇꜱ  
** OMG!! The ship is sailing. They must be dating!

**ᴅᴇᴛᴇᴄᴛɪᴠᴇ ꜰᴜᴡᴀ  
** There's chemistry but I'm sure they're not on the dating stage yet.

**ʙʟᴏɴᴅᴇ ʙᴀʙᴇꜱ  
** Right. I heard them talking about going to study for the quiz next week.   
They're going to teach each other subjects they're not good at.

**ꜱᴇxʏ  
** Okay, I'll ask although I'm not sure why that is a big deal.

**ʙʟᴏɴᴅᴇ ʙᴀʙᴇꜱ  
** How is that not a big deal?! A girl and boy going out on weekends   
to study. That's basically going out on a date.

**ᴘʀᴇᴄɪᴏᴜꜱ ʙᴇᴇᴛʟᴇꜱ  
** I really think Chiba-chan is cute for Hayami-chan!

**ᴅᴇᴛᴇᴄᴛɪᴠᴇ ꜰᴜᴡᴀ  
** In a typical shoujo plot, couples like Hayami and Chiba will end up being exclusively together after graduation or during high school.

**ʙʟᴏɴᴅᴇ ʙᴀʙᴇꜱ  
** Yeah but they're going to kiss first before confessing their feelings.

**ᴅᴇᴛᴇᴄᴛɪᴠᴇ ꜰᴜᴡᴀ  
** I doubt that's going to happen -_-

 **ʙʟᴏɴᴅᴇ ʙᴀʙᴇꜱ  
** Why not?!

◈◈◈

**\-------------**  
𝚂𝙼𝚂 𝙼𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚊𝚐𝚎  
 **\-------------**

 **Touka**  
𝘙𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘢, 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘶𝘱 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸?

 **Rinka**   
No, sorry. I have plans.

 **Touka  
** 𝘔𝘢𝘺 𝘐 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘵?

 **Rinka  
** I'm going to study for our tests.

 **Touka**  
𝘈𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦?

 **Rinka  
** No. With Chiba.

 **Touka  
** _Oh._

_Well have fun!_

**Rinka**   
How am I going to have fun when we're going to study?

 **Touka**  
 _I didn't mean it that way_.

 **Rinka  
** What do you mean then?

 **Touka  
** _Uhh..._

_See you on Monday!_

◈◈◈

**_\---------------------------------------_**  
𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐍𝐚𝐦𝐞: ChibaHaya Shippers

𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬:  
Rio Nakamura _(as Blonde Babes)_  
Hinano Kurahashi _(as Precious Beetles)_  
Yuzuki Fuwa _(as Detective Fuwa)_  
Touka Yada _(as Sexy)_

𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭: 9:07 PM  
 ** _\---------------------------------------_**

 **ꜱᴇxʏ**  
Rio, you're right.

**ʙʟᴏɴᴅᴇ ʙᴀʙᴇꜱ  
** Of course I am.

**ᴘʀᴇᴄɪᴏᴜꜱ ʙᴇᴇᴛʟᴇꜱ  
** Will they go somewhere else after studying? :3

**ʙʟᴏɴᴅᴇ ʙᴀʙᴇꜱ  
** Maybe I should have Ritsu spy on them for me.

**ꜱᴇxʏ**  
Let's give them privacy.

**ʙʟᴏɴᴅᴇ ʙᴀʙᴇꜱ  
** Don't be such a killjoy.

**ʀɪᴛꜱᴜ  
** I'll gladly do surveillance on Hayami and Chiba's study date tomorrow.

**ᴘʀᴇᴄɪᴏᴜꜱ ʙᴇᴇᴛʟᴇꜱ  
** O_O

**ʙʟᴏɴᴅᴇ ʙᴀʙᴇꜱ  
** Ritsu, you're here!

**ʀɪᴛꜱᴜ  
** Yes! You see, I'm also an avid fan of our sniper duo. It'll make me happy if they do end up together.

**ꜱᴇxʏ**  
I hope this does not go out of hand.

**ʀɪᴛꜱᴜ  
** I'll be discreet so they won't notice.

**ꜱᴇxʏ**  
That's not the issue.

**ʀɪᴛꜱᴜ  
** Just a while ago, Hayami was getting anxious because Chiba was not replying to her for an hour. It turns out Chiba was just listening to music and he took a long time thinking about his reply.

**ʙʟᴏɴᴅᴇ ʙᴀʙᴇꜱ  
** HAHAHAHA!!! How typical.

**ꜱᴇxʏ**  
Where's Fuwa?

**ᴘʀᴇᴄɪᴏᴜꜱ ʙᴇᴇᴛʟᴇꜱ  
** Maybe she's reading manga? She's usually inactive during this hour

**ꜱᴇxʏ**  
Ah. I also have to go. My brother just woke up.

**ʙʟᴏɴᴅᴇ ʙᴀʙᴇꜱ  
** Bye titties. xD

**ᴘʀᴇᴄɪᴏᴜꜱ ʙᴇᴇᴛʟᴇꜱ  
** Bye Bye, curvy!

**ꜱᴇxʏ**  
Uhm... bye I guess.

* * *

## 3.2

**【𝚆𝚎𝚎𝚔𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚂𝚝𝚞𝚍𝚢】**

⋆★⋆

It was ten minutes earlier than the agreed time when Chiba arrived. He chose to sit on a family-size table with only a few diners around and, then, started waiting for his date – _I mean_ – his study partner.

While wondering if he should message her, his phone vibrated inside his pocket. He thought it was her only for him to see Sugaya's name on the lit-up screen.

> **𝚂𝚞𝚐𝚊𝚢𝚊:** Hey, up for bowling? :)
> 
> **𝙲𝚑𝚒𝚋𝚊:** Sorry, I'll be studying today.
> 
> **𝚂𝚞𝚐𝚊𝚢𝚊:** Just say you're going out on a date ;)
> 
> **𝙲𝚑𝚒𝚋𝚊:** No. We're only going to study.
> 
> **𝚂𝚞𝚐𝚊𝚢𝚊:** Wait. It's not just you? Who are you with?
> 
> **𝙲𝚑𝚒𝚋𝚊:** Hayami.

There was a slight delay before the lanky artist's reply arrived:

> **𝚂𝚞𝚐𝚊𝚢𝚊:** Have fun, man!

_'Have fun in studying?'_ Chiba had thought when a soothing voice interrupted his thoughts. He raised his head to see Hayami in a knee-length blue-laced skirt and white sleeveless with a pair of white slip-ons.

Hayami's forehead creased at the tongue-tied Chiba. "What is it?" she asked, snapping him back to his senses.

"Nothing," he mumbled just as she took the seat across him while giving him a weird look.

Then she started taking out her notebook and pen. She has decided to shrug it off and go on their intention of meeting here.

"I tried doing the practice problems that Korosensei gave us –" she slid her notebook towards him, showing neat handwriting of numerical solutions "– and I'm not sure on some of these problems. Please teach me how to answer them."

◈◈◈

The clock had struck five in the afternoon when they were done. They left the café feeling accomplished in their group study.

"We should do this often," said Chiba, smiling.

Hayami returned the smile. "Sure. We can study together whenever there is a test."

Then she stopped in her tracks upon catching a glimpse of three boys coming their way. One of them was Hideo Fujiwara, who was Hayami's classmate before she transferred to Class 3-E.

"Oy, Hideo. Isn't that Hayami?"

The three boys all looked at her. The mention of her name has caused Chiba to turn his head their way.

"It's her alright," the brunette said with a sneer when his eyes darted towards Chiba. He let out a snort as he glanced at Hayami. "So you're going out with someone? You have it easy, don't you, now that you're in Class E?"

Fujiwara and Hayami had been good friends in the past until he confessed to her and asked her out. She rejected him on the spot and this made him bitter and distant. Afterward, he began to deliberately ask her for favors until everyone else in the class followed his example.

With that, her studies were neglected.

Chiba could feel the tension coming from Hayami, whose eyes were downcast. This confirmed his suspicion that the _jerk_ was her former classmate in the main building.

"So you'd pick a loser in Class E? No wonder you failed," Fujiwara continued.

Looking back at Chiba, he told him, "I'm telling you this out of pity although you're in Class E. If I were you, I'd break up with this cold _bitch..._ "

Before he could finish his sentence, a hand violently grabbed his shirt, jerking him closer to its owner. Since he was a few inches shorter, he was given a glimpse of Chiba's maroon eyes filled with bloodlust.

"Don't you ever call her that again," Chiba growled.

The intensity of that gaze behind the fringe made the caramel-haired boy shiver. He shoved Chiba's hand away instinctively. "Let go of me, you creep." His voice almost cracked.

Then he marched away while his friends followed after him hastily.

This made Hayami wonder what Chiba had looked like behind his bangs, which caused Fujiwara to cower like that. She glanced at Chiba's coiled fists and realized that he actually got angry because of the hurtful things that were said about her.

Her heart squeezed at the thought.

She, then, closed their distance as her hand reached out for his sleeve. "I'm okay," she whispered softly.

That was all it took for him to calm down.

"Thank you," she added.

He released a sigh followed by a smile hovering on the edge of his lips. "I have been meaning to tell you that you look cute today." Finally, he said it. The thing that has been keeping him garbled ever since he saw her today.

A pink blush crept up on her cheeks. Pleased at her reaction, he turned away.

 _'What was that about?'_ she thought. Her nails dug into her palms, thinking that he deserved a comeback.

"Chiba!"

He halted and looked over his shoulder.

"Fujiwara was wrong. You're not a loser –" her aloof expression softened "– although he was right about one thing. I would pick you over anyone else. Remember that."

When she had seen his astonished look, she smirked as if she just won a game before catching up to his side.

She was glad that she ended up being in Class 3-E despite what Fujiwara or anyone else said. Because in this class, winning was not about being above others. It was more satisfying and meaningful than that.

◈◈◈

"That really happened?!"

Inside the bowling center, Nakamura was surrounded by Sugaya, Kurahashi, Okajima, Mimura, and Masayoshi Kimura while seated on a chair. They had been listening to Ritsu through Nakamura's phone about the encounter that the sniper duo has faced after their studying session.

Of course, Ritsu did not mention the aftermath conversation, which was mostly Chiba and Hayami flirting. She thought by herself that that sort of thing was better kept between them.

"I haven't seen Chiba-chan get mad. He must've really cared for Hayami-chan," said Kurahashi thoughtfully.

"That asshole," Nakamura grumbled with her fist up. "Let's make them pay as we did for Maehara."

"That's what I was also going to say." Korosensei, in his sloppy disguise as a bowling player, whirled before them. He laughed maniacally and said, "So who's up for some revenge, second edition?"

> _KURAHASHI:_ Of course I'm in! Hayami-chan is a precious friend so I'm not going to let those who bad-mouth her off the hook easily.
> 
> _SUGAYA:_ Nothing would make me happier than giving those pompous jerks what they deserve.
> 
> _OKAJIMA:_ If I do something cool like getting back at those people, maybe girls will start to look at me in a new light.
> 
> _NAKAMURA:_ No need to ask me. I'm already in from the beginning.
> 
> _MIMURA:_ I haven't done these things before so maybe it'll be fun.
> 
> _MASAYOSHI:_ Bring it on!

Korosensei was delighted to see the pure bloodlust in their eyes. His students have indeed flourished after these past few months. " _Nurufufufufu._ Good. Let's go somewhere private to discuss our plan," he said.

Each of them grinned wickedly, up for this game called retaliation.

* * *

## 3.3

**【𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙱𝚒𝚝𝚌𝚑'𝚜 𝙼𝚎𝚍𝚍𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐】**

**  
**

⋆★⋆

Right before class has started, the sniper duo entered the faculty lounge where Irina Jelavić, their English teacher, was currently fixing her make-up.

"What do you want, _brats_?" She merely gave them a glimpse before looking back at the mirror.

A professional hitwoman from overseas, she was hired by the government to assassinate Korosensei. On the outside, she appeared to be alluringly cruel and arrogant; her femme fatale and her sensual figure could make any men lose themselves. But upon spending time with the students as their teacher, she was surprisingly humble, earnest, and has a soft side on her.

The two students took a few steps closer with their textbooks and notes in their hands. "I have some questions on a passage in the book, _Bitch_ -sensei," said Hayami.

Being called with that name ticked Irina off. Ever since Karma instigated it, the nickname has been entrenched in the students. And she couldn't do anything to change that.

"And please teach me how to translate some complex words into English," Chiba stated further.

After applying lipstick, Irina puckered her lips and spun her chair, facing them with a narked expression. "Why are you getting into study mode when it's so early in the morning? You kids should learn how to have fun."

Then with an outstretched arm, she added, "Jeez. Let me see them so that we can get this over with," as her other hand swatted her wavy blonde hair off her shoulder with a huff.

She began to teach them when she eventually got weary. Not because of their learning speed, in fact, they were able to quickly grasp the concepts she explained without needing more examples and follow-up questions. It was rather because they were too businesslike that her tutoring session became dull for the thrill-seeking assassin.

Like a stroke of lightning, it came back to her that rumors were going around the class. Kurahashi mentioned it once while Irina was sharing her romantic endeavors in her undercover jobs. There were suspicions that the two snipers were going out which would not be a shock due to their similar personalities and how they always have been spending time together.

An idea crossed her mind. With a malicious grin, she said, "Let's test if you actually understood the lesson. If you got my question wrong, you will be punished with a –" she seductively licked her lips with a pout "– wet kiss from me."

Shivers ran down the students' spines.

"Or what if –" she tapped her finger on her chin thoughtfully as she repeatedly glanced at the two "– you have to kiss each other if one of you gave me a wrong answer!" she declared, finger-pointing.

Since they did not want to exert their energy in objecting, both Chiba and Hayami would have to see to it that they would not make a mistake.

Well, it was easier thought than done.

"WRONG!"

After hearing Chiba's answer to the third question, Irina crossed her arms with a triumphant smile on her face. "Now, you have to kiss her," she instructed with a glance on Hayami, who was now stiff on her seat.

Chiba looked queasy as he tried to keep his gaze away from Hayami. "Bitch-sensei, can't you reconsider?" he asked.

"Of course not! Be a man and just do it!" Irina barked. Then she thrust the unwilling boy to the disoriented Hayami, who was able to raise her hands beforehand to barricade herself from the impending kiss.

Her patience wearing thin, Irina held Hayami's back to prod her towards Chiba, whose arms were pillared on Hayami's chair. For a woman with delicate arms, she definitely has a vicelike grip and strength.

"Oh come on. Why don't you give in already? I know that you two want to do this..."

The wooden door slid open, revealing Karasuma with his usual scowl, which turned into bewilderment upon witnessing his colleague doing something ineffable on their two students.

"What the hell are you doing, Irina?!" he bellowed.

His feet pounded on the creaking floor until his sturdy hand caught her by her collar and dragged her away from the two snipers.

"But I'm not yet done teaching them!" Irina whined right before they went out of the room.

Withholding his temper, Karasuma finally released the whimpering assassin when they had reached the corridor. He wheeled around to face her just as he put his hands on his hips.

"If you want to continue doing your mission here, then, you better act accordingly," he rebuked.

Irina repetitively linked her forefingers together. "But I only want to help them since they are always focused on their studies and the assassination. They also need to enjoy their youth, you know," she mumbled with a pout.

He shut his eyes tight as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "It's okay for you to give the students a push. Just don't go overboard as you did earlier. Understand?" he said.

Her scowl deepened with her light blue eyes sideways on the floor. "I understand."

He turned his back on her as the corner of his mouth curved up. She really has changed. If this was before, she would not have given the students a time of her day.

◈◈◈

When their teachers had been out-of-sight, both Chiba and Hayami breathed out a sigh of relief. They gathered their stuff in haste since they were about to be late for their first class.

"That was mortifying," Hayami said with a dreary look while on their way to the classroom.

"Yeah. It would be a shame if I were to become your first kiss," said Chiba.

Hayami sneaked a glance at him. "I don't mind if it's you."

His footsteps stopped while she continued until she was three steps away. Her head turned over at him when she had noticed his absence by her side.

"Didn't you realize what you just said?" he blurted.

Pondering over her last words, her cheeks became pink as she looked away from him. "Don't get the wrong idea," she stated before rushing to the room, leaving him dumbfounded.

After that, the sniper duo did not seek Irina's help anymore beyond class hours much to her disappointment. 

* * *

## 3.4

**【𝙲𝚊𝚝 𝙻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛】**

⋆★⋆

At first, Chiba would once in a while glimpse at the class's ideal girl, Yukiko Kanzaki. As a boy, he was also entranced by her beauty and her elegant demeanor, which would be difficult to overlook especially when she was just sitting beside Okajima in the row before him. That's why he had voted her as his favorite girl in Class 3-E during their final night in the Kyoto school trip.

But for the past week, his mind would at times run towards Hayami instead – her petite frame, the sharp glint of her emerald gaze, her hair that reminded him of tangerines, and the warmth beneath her apathetic words and actions.

No sooner than that, the black-haired beauty was tucked away within the remnants of his past thoughts.

He would also think about the little surprises that he discovered about his sniping partner while they were together. Like how she would count the number of her bullseye hits out of the total pellets she used, and how she would cross her arms whenever she tried to hide her soft side.

If she couldn't solve a math problem, her lips would pout for a moment before her gaze would plead to him for help. Also, when he did something clumsy or stupid, she would look away each time he caught her stifling a laugh.

And...

"Hey, Kurahashi. I heard that a cat café has opened recently downtown," said Nakamura upon approaching the animal-lover on the first row.

Out of the corner of his eye, Chiba spotted Hayami flinching on her seat.

Kurahashi's eyes gleamed, both fists below her chin. "Really? I want to go there!"

The grin on Nakamura's face widened as she stole a glance in the sniper duo's direction. "We can go there tomorrow. I'll ask the others."

"Yay!" Kurahashi clapped, clearly enthused about this. "I can't wait!"

The scheming blonde began to invite the other girls – all except for Hayami, who was shaking the whole time while Nakamura was going around the room.

The ones coming to the said café were Kanzaki, Kaede Kayano, Yada, Hinata, and Kataoka.

While the female class rep finalized the attendees for tomorrow, she noticed that one person had not been asked yet. She was about to approach Hayami's seat when Nakamura grabbed her shoulder in a bolt.

"Let's not invite her," she whispered to Kataoka's ear.

Kataoka fervently turned to the evil-faced Nakamura. "Why not?!" she exclaimed.

"Trust me, class rep. It will be good for her." Nakamura winked.

Knowing the blonde prankster, Kataoka could not help but worry.

"Oi, Chiba. Are you still coming to the arcade later?" asked Sugaya with a hand on his hip. "Even Karma and Sugino are coming."

Since he has no shooting practice with Hayami later, Chiba had already agreed to hang out with some of the guys after class. But when he spotted the frustration of his sniping partner, as shown with a crease on her forehead, he guessed that she wanted to come with the girls tomorrow, but for some reason, she was not invited.

Maybe he should accompany her later to the school gate instead.

"Pass. I just remembered that I have an errand to do," Chiba said.

Sugaya's eyebrow arched. He could sense that something was up and it was not about the said errand. "That's too bad. Well, you know the place in case you change your mind," he stated.

The taciturn sniper simply hummed.

◈◈◈

In the end, no one among the girls who were going tomorrow had thought of inviting her. Although Hayami was being discrete about it, Chiba could still sense her moping for the rest of the afternoon. Not knowing how to uplift someone's mood, he stayed silent the whole trek downhill the mountain.

When they had arrived at the school gate, a yearning feeling to spend more time with her spewed out from within him. His mouth opened, but no words came out.

"Bye," said Hayami with a wave. As she spun on her heel, she heard him call out her name. She half-looked over her shoulder.

"Wanna go somewhere?"

After that, they went to the cat café that Nakamura had mentioned. Upon seeing the cats scattered inside, Hayami's face changed from poker-face to ecstasy. And when they were led to a table with cushion seats, she hurriedly cuddled a white blue-eyed Ragdoll on her lap.

He kept on spectating when her head rolled his way. "Don't you dare tell anyone else about this," she told him, her eyes narrowed.

As she was always perceived to be phlegmatic, it would draw a lot of attention on her if the others (especially in Class 3-E) would come to know about this side of her.

"My lips are sealed," he said as his one hand did a zipping gesture across his mouth.

Satisfied, she resumed snuggling the lucky cat with a mushy expression on her face. A British Shorthair, then, walked up to their table before nudging its head on Chiba's knee. The raven hair let out an affectionate sigh as he stroked its fur.

For some reason, seeing his gentle smile with a lovely cat in his arms induced Hayami to pull out her phone and sneakily take a picture of the heart-fluttering scene.

Luckily for her, he only noticed her watching and not snapping a photo of him. As she quickly hid her phone inside her pocket, he raised the stunned gray cat towards her.

"Do you want to play with this fella? You can have your turn," he offered.

She maintained a blank look as she said, "It's alright. Don't mind me looking. Besides, he seems to like you." It would be a waste to lose the soft expression he had earlier.

Who would've thought that he could have that kind of face?

From then on, every time the events of that day would invade his thoughts, he would subconsciously smile to himself, sometimes accompanied by a chuckle. Finding out about her love for cats had been quite a surprise especially the major flip of her personality when she doted on them, which he surmised to be adorable.

As for the restless class rep, she confronted Nakamura the next morning about her 'wicked scheme' regarding Hayami. With a smug look, the prankster genius revealed her plan of setting a spontaneous date for the two snipers including the stalking she – with Karma Akabane – had done on them inside the café, with the help of Sugaya's artistic disguise.

That would explain the sudden absence of Karma and Sugaya that day from the boys' after-school arcade. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really enjoyed writing Chapter 3.4 since there were CATS! Like Hayami, I also adore those cuties. Who else loves them?
> 
> Since I've already published three revamped chapters, I want to know what you guys think of the changes. Do you think it has become better?
> 
> There's this Tumblr post that I have seen that analyzed which boy had voted which girl in the Kyoto field trip and it says that Chiba had picked Kanzaki. At first, I couldn't believe that since I didn't think that he would be the sort to choose a girl based on her looks. But, Kanzaki is the top-beauty in class in terms of both appearance and personality, and so I started to agree with the theory. And then, I realized further that Hayami is not a very charming person (with her coldness and all), especially for a girl, and boys their age are attracted to girls that are sweet and the like. Also, Chiba and Hayami had only spent time together for less than two months (most of the time was due to assassination and academics) before the school trip, so I can understand why Chiba wouldn't still see Hayami's charms back then.
> 
> So there's that. Now, I can fully see why the person who made that post had claimed that Chiba was one of the voters of Kanzaki. I also deemed it interesting to add that fact/theory to my fanfic.
> 
> I hope you are enjoying the story so far. Please don't forget to leave a vote and share your comments down below.


	6. 【4】𝕁𝔸𝕄-ℙ𝔸ℂ𝕂𝔼𝔻 𝕁𝕌𝕃𝕐

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a pretty long chapter as written out in the title. We have now reached four chapters, so we still have eight more. This means more work (sighs). 
> 
> Well, it is fun writing down the scenes of my OTP, ChibaHaya or RyuRin. I can't wait to put into words the development of their relationship albeit slow. 

## ▢▢▢▢

## 4.1

**【𝙿𝚒𝚐𝚝𝚊𝚒𝚕𝚜】**

⋆★⋆

When Irina had left the room after their English class, Nakamura turned around from her seat towards Okajima and Hayami. "Come to think of it, don't you think Rinka's hair kinda looks like Bitch-sensei's?" she pointed.

Okajima perked up. "That's what I think so too! I think that Hayami's wavy hair adds up to her charm." He grinned at his stoic seatmate and received a cold look from her, who turned to Nakamura after.

"Hey, what are you talking about?" Kurahashi asked innocently upon approaching them.

"We were just saying how Rinka and Bitch-sensei's hair is similar," said Nakamura.

Kurahashi ogled at Hayami. "I can see the similarities," she said. "If Hayami-chan's hair is blonde, she'll be more like Bitch-sensei."

"I can already imagine Hayami having blonde hair. It would look sexy on her," Okajima fussed, his nose flaring.

Again, the girls only snubbed him.

"Their personalities are opposites though," Nakamura said.

"Still, both their faces are pretty mature. Hayami-chan's eyes also look keen," retorted Kurahashi.

Okajima edged closer towards them with a beam on his face. "Why don't we make Hayami wear something sexy like Bitch-sensei? Something that will show – Oy! Who threw that?!"

He spun around and there he saw Chiba leaning forward whose left arm was lying on the desk with his other one was up and fingers showing that he was the one who flicked the eraser straight to Okajima's buzz-cut head.

"What gives, Chiba?!" Okajima yelled.

"I was practicing my aim. I thought that your head was a target," the male sniper lied coolly.

"Why don't you practice outside instead?" Okajima disputed.

"You're right. I should do that." Chiba rose from his seat and looked towards the orange-haired sniper. "Wanna have a go?" he asked her.

Without a word, Hayami followed him out of the room. The three were mute for a moment until Karma passed by them, amusement apparent on his face at Chiba's show of reaction.

"I have to thank you for that little show," he told Okajima, who looked lost.

"Yeah. Good job for pissing Chiba off." Nakamura lifted her hand with a thumbs-up.

"Why did I piss him off? What the heck did I do?"

Grinning from ear-to-ear, the two daredevils loomed over the stunned pervert. "Just keep on doing what you do," Karma said.

"Until Chiba explodes either from jealousy or rage. Or both," Nakamura continued.

Okajima reclined further, his back sliding down his seat. "Jealous? Rage? Who, Chiba? What are you guys talking about?"

While the two carried on their fun of pressuring Okajima, Kurahashi began to suspect that maybe Okajima has some sort of crush on Hayami although the person himself was oblivious about his feelings. Because of that, Chiba would sooner realize his own.

 _'I'm sorry, Okajima,'_ she thought. ' _But I'm rooting for Hayami-chan and Chiba-chan.'_

◈◈◈

After their training for the upcoming inter-class ball game tournament, the two snipers stayed inside the classroom for their class duty. For some reason, they were always paired up together.

"Do you think that my hair is similar to Bitch-sensei?" Hayami asked softly after picking up the broom and dustpan.

Chiba was just done moving the last desk away when he said, "You're bothered by that? It doesn't matter though." Upon seeing her troubled expression, he tilted his head to the side amusedly.

"I know, but I still don't like it." Her eyes drifted to the floor, internally hating herself for being this shallow.

"You can change your hairstyle," he suggested.

Her face brightened. "I can put it up into a ponytail," she said.

> CHIBA: That's Yada's signature hairstyle already.
> 
> HAYAMI: Then... a low ponytail?
> 
> CHIBA: Hara and Kataoka.
> 
> HAYAMI: How about a braid?
> 
> CHIBA: Okuda, remember?
> 
> HAYAMI: Okano-san already has short hair. I can't think up of anything else.

While she was distracted in her pondering, Chiba took a few steps forward until he was inches away from her. His eyes glazed at her emerald orbs then at her pursed mouth. He reached out both of his arms towards her.

Hayami froze as she felt his hands – each of them holding up a half of her hair. She stared at him in confusion.

"Fix your hair like this," he said. "Pigtails."

"Won't that make me look childish?"

"I think that you'd look cute with it."

Her face remained blank. "Why do I feel like you're messing with me?"

He stifled a laugh. "I'm not. Trust me. Do I look like I'm joking?" He pointed at his face to prove his point.

Squinting, a small frown emerged on her face. "I can't tell because your bangs are in the way," she pointed.

With a sigh, she tucked strands of her hair, admitting to herself that it was not a bad idea. "My hair is a bother anyway whenever I move around in training. Might as well tie it."

◈◈◈

The Class 3-E rejoiced when the baseball match had ended, having it won against the invincible Baseball Club. After imparting celebratory remarks with his fellow male peers, Chiba moved towards Hayami, whose hair was fixed into pigtails.

He pointed at his own head. "Looks nice."

Although he already clapped eyes on her new look when the girls had arrived from their basketball game, he hadn't had a chance to comment on it up till now.

The corners of her mouth turned up. "Thanks."

"How did the game go?" he asked as they started to walk behind their classmates back to their decrepit classroom.

"It was a close call."

She did not mind losing though. At least she got to see the boys win their match, which was technically a showdown between Korosensei and the school's principal, Gakuho Asano, as educators.

His head drooped, feeling guilty that their victory did not go on both groups.

Her eyes flickered at him as she sensed the down of his mood. "Congrats. You guys played well," she said.

"I didn't do much. I didn't even hit the ball."

"Still –" she stalled to find the right words "– you won. _Our_ class won."

 _Of course._ A smile hovered on the edge of his lips. _Why didn't I realize that sooner?_

After thinking that, he looked at her briefly, dwelling again on how the hairstyle suited her well

* * *

## 4.2

**【𝙱𝚒𝚛𝚝𝚑𝚍𝚊𝚢 𝚂𝚞𝚛𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚎】**

⋆★⋆

On July 12, everyone in Class 3-E had pooled their money in buying a cake for Hayami. They all sang the 'Happy Birthday Song' during homeroom, together with Korosensei, as she blew the candle afterward.

She was grateful that they remembered her birthday and even prepared something – thanks to Korosensei's reminder to everyone last week.

After their last period, Chiba seized this window of opportunity to approach the celebrant while the rest of the class were indulged in their own affairs.

"Hayami, I want to show you something," he said, his thumb pointing outside.

"Okay."

Although they walked out of the room stealthily, they were still caught by the prodigy duo – Nakamura and Karma – the only ones who kept an eye on the male sniper since this morning in anticipation for this moment.

They shared a scheming glance, aware of what to do next.

Right in the middle of the forest, the sniper pair wandered through the cool shade. The only noise that could be heard was the crunching of the twigs and leaves on each step and the faint sway of the trees.

As Chiba had instructed, they brought their guns. He also told Hayami that if she ever saw a peculiar target, she should shoot it. Of course, she was curious about this ordinary yet extemporaneous task but did not make the effort to ask him. She had a feeling that she would only be given a vague answer.

Her eyes began to dart here and there until she made out a pink round object floating from a branch. Upon further inspection, she noticed the letter 'H' on it.

She clasped her fingers around the pistol, aiming it at the _target_ , andpulled the trigger without a moment of hesitation.

_Pop!_

Colorful pieces of confetti glided to the ground. A breath flowed out from her mouth as she finally caught wind of what this was all about. Not wanting him to see her astonishment, she continued forward without looking at him.

The next balloon target has the letter 'A', which went on until she reached the 13th one, 'Y'. Arranging all those letters together, she came up with the phrase that she had been hearing several times today,

**H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y**

Before she could react, she caught sight of a tiny object alongside the confetti on the dirt. It probably dropped from the last balloon that she had shot. She came closer and picked it up.

It was a keychain in the shape of a black cat.

Her head cocked towards Chiba, who was rubbing the back of his neck bashfully. "Happy Birthday," he simply said.

"Is this why you skipped our practice this morning?" she asked to which he nodded in reply.

A smile formed on her face. Then, with eyes shimmering, she met his gaze. It was a simple gift but it somehow made her heart flutter.

"Thank you."

The expression she was wearing at that moment was one that no one else besides Chiba had seen. Even though his past self would not have done this sort of thing, he was glad that he had gone out of his way to celebrate her birthday.

Meanwhile, two rubberneckers were perched atop a tree branch as they watched the surprise that Chiba had prepared for Hayami – the skill they learned from Karasuma on hiding their presence being harnessed for an unnecessary purpose.

When the sniper duo had left to return to the classroom, Nakamura let out an outcry. "There goes my hundred yen!"

Devil horns popped out from Karma's head with a frivolous smirk on his face. "I exactly got his gift right," he proclaimed smugly.

She threw him an outrageous look. "I can't believe that you were able to guess that without using a trick," she said.

Feigning a look of innocence, he uttered, "Why would I do that?" Then he sneered. "Well, you are right. I came across Chiba last Sunday going inside an accessory shop and this morning, while I was gathering poisonous berries, I saw him tying balloons around the forest."

"You cheater!" she groused. She didn't even bother asking why he was harvesting those harmful berries. She already has a clue what's it for.

"I just got lucky. Next time, check what your opponent knows before making a bet with them."

Gritting her teeth, she pulled out her wallet. "Fine." She took out a hundred-yen bill before slapping it on his open palm.

* * *

## 4.3

**【𝙲𝚘𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚃𝚒𝚖𝚎】**

⋆★⋆

Amid the humidity and heat getting worse since summer had arrived, having no air conditioner was hell-like torture. It was not until next week, as the student council had feebly promised, that the A/C unit was going to be installed inside their classroom.

Even the top snipers in class, who were usually cool and composed, were now dripping with sweat with their faces lamenting. Thankfully, Korosensei has created a pool for them within the forest. At least they would not have to walk for an hour before being able to enjoy the cool waters.

"I don't think I'm going to last until I get home," Chiba moaned as he walked with Hayami by his side. They were on their way to the storage shed for their after-school practice.

Hayami lifted her head to look at him as they entered the doorway. "Should we skip today?" she queried.

He went inside and rummaged through a container of weapons before pulling out a rifle. "Or let's test the new weapons out."

After discovering Korosensei's weakness on water, Karasuma had requested waterproof guns from the ministry. The customized set, which could now be used underwater, was just delivered yesterday.

She nodded. "Good idea."

They changed into their school swimsuits before heading down the pool, new guns in their hands. Hayami tied their targets onto the branches while Chiba tossed the 'korosenseiballs', the ones that could sink, into the water.

Karma, who was relaxing on a nearby tree branch while drinking strawberry milk, caught sight of the two. His mouth formed into a smirk as he fished out his phone.

When Hayami had just finished setting up the last target, Chiba turned towards her. "Ready?" he asked.

She raised the rifle with her free hand on her waist. "Let's do this."

They stayed afloat in the clear sparkling water as they tried to shoot the targets on the trees only to find steadying themselves while aiming a difficult task. That's why they used the floating boards as support for their arms, letting go of them when they swam underneath to shoot the 'korosensei balls'.

Then Hayami reemerged from the water with Chiba following shortly. "Time duration: 12.26 seconds," Ritsu announced through Chiba's phone on the rock.

"Hayami has hit all of her targets by 10.05 seconds, faster than Chiba by 2.21 seconds."

Chiba swam towards the edge, resting his arm on the stony surface near his phone. "Moving targets are my weakness. Maybe I should try to improve my dynamic visual," he said.

"It is true that long-distance shooting is your specialty while Hayami is more competent in balancing and kinetic sniping. This gives her an advantage in this setup where the targets are swinging in mid-air and moving around underwater. But that does not mean that your skill has no use for a water assassination," the pink-haired AI said with a wink.

Hayami was sitting by the side with her legs hanging in the water when she looked down at Chiba. "Ritsu's right. Our accuracy is already top-notch but we have to improve our speed. We can catch up with Korosensei's Mach 20 if we can mesh our abilities well," she stated as she fixed her pigtails.

For the second round, Chiba floated in one position to shoot far-off targets while Hayami swam around for the rest.

When Ritsu had stopped the timer, she clapped her hands together with a huge grin. "Record time is 10 seconds! With Hayami quickly targeting the ones within her range, and Chiba handling the targets that were too far away, you two were able to cut the time by 2.26 seconds. I'm sure, with more practice, you will be able to reach the best record of 7.14 seconds."

Confetti burst off in the background of the screen as Ritsu continued to clap. Hayami and Chiba exchanged glances before smiling triumphantly.

Forgetting his main purpose of spectating them, Karma became amazed at the pair's accuracy and teamwork as if they were two peas in a pod. He had been observing and analyzing the shootout, reaching the conclusion that he would not be able to pull that off alone.

After helping Hayami get up from the pool, Chiba turned around when he had felt a wet and heavy sensation touch the skin of his back. He twitched, slightly looking over his shoulder to see Hayami leaning on his back with a dazed expression, her hand on him for support.

"Hayami!" he cried out worriedly. He was about to hold her up when something pulled his arm. He found himself plunging back into the pool right before seeing the smirk crossing her face.

Hayami giggled as she jumped in after him. She, then, sloshed him with water to which he counterattacked. The two kept on splashing each other while laughing.

The urgent worry that Chiba had earlier was replaced with glee.

Having enough of their 'fun', he shielded his face as he drifted towards her. He grabbed both of her arms, lifting them when he saw her smiling pretty face. He felt a jolt followed by a loud thumping inside his chest.

Hayami ceased trying to break off from his grasp when she had noticed his frozen state. Filled with scrutiny and inquiry, her emerald orbs pierced through his hair, which prompted him to let go.

Something has changed within him. Whatever it was, the person himself did not know.

Of course, Karma took snaps of their playtime in the pool until the moment when Chiba held Hayami in close proximity. He hummed to himself as he jumped down.

He was so going to make a compilation about the two. 

* * *

## 4.4

**【𝙵𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝙳𝚊𝚝𝚎: 𝙰𝚛𝚌𝚊𝚍𝚎 𝙲𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚋𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗】  
**

⋆★⋆

To celebrate their victory against Class 3-A in the first-semester final exams, Chiba invited Hayami to go to the arcade after school. You could say that this was also a reward to themselves for making it to the Top 50, which was made possible by Korosensei's cram lessons and their weekend study sessions.

As they have it clarified between themselves, this would be their official _first date,_ unlike their other hangouts that have taken place out of spontaneity.

Since they were students of the prominent Kunugigaoka Junior High, they brought casual clothing to change into to avoid attention while going inside a place that would clearly defy their school's image.

Along the way, they agreed to forget about their studies and assassination during their date, which meant they were not allowed to talk about either of those. With this, the first thing they played upon entering the arcade was a zombie shooting game.

"Clean hit," said Hayami with a gloating smile, her hair down into waves, after simultaneously taking down seven zombies at a profound speed.

"Nice shot!" Chiba praised.

They beat the top score in the first round. Upon reaching midway in the second, their precision and above-average accuracy attracted about a dozen onlookers.

Thirty minutes later, they finished the whole game with the best score. Their audience applauded and cheered as a lofty amount of tickets from the arcade console piled onto the floor.

They conquered the claw machine next, which was a breeze for Chiba, who got ten prizes in all of his tries. Occupying the machine next to him, Hayami yielded similar results.

The staff-in-charge was having a heart attack as he watched the monstrous couple hoard almost all of the prizes. He scrambled his way towards them and begged them to leave. Thankfully, they obliged and made their way to the counter to exchange their tickets for toys, dolls, and a few snacks.

Each of them has two paper bags in their hands – filled with the prizes they have won in the arcade – as they exited the premises, their countenance that of a child.

"We have indeed improved a lot because of the assassination," Hayami said before quickly pressing her mouth into a thin line. "Sorry. We aren't supposed to talk about that."

"Don't sweat it," Chiba said. Then he pointed across the street. "Let's rest in the café over there."

They entered the glass doors, the scent of coffee wafting their nostrils. They picked the table by the window where you could see the people passing by and the cars driving on the street.

"I'll order for both of us. What do you want?" Chiba presented just as Hayami had settled on the grey sofa.

After glancing briefly at the menu posted above the cashier, she said, "I'll have a café latte," as she fixed the hair strands by her ear.

 _'Ah, the same as mine,'_ Chiba thought.

When he had gone back with their orders, he caught his date's lingering gaze on one of his paper bags. Her eyes flickered towards him as if broken from a trance upon sensing his presence.

He placed their drinks on the table. She, then, uttered a "Thank you".

He sat down on the seat across her before bending down to take out a cat stuffed toy from his bag of prizes. "It's yours," he said.

She glanced down at the plush toy in his extended hand. Her face morphed into delight as she accepted it. "Thanks." She gave it a light squeeze before placing it on her lap.

 _'Cute,'_ he thought. He had intended to give that to her later on when they departed, but here and now also did the trick.

They spent the rest of the hour mostly taking in the movements outside. Whenever they spotted something that reminded them of Class 3-E and the assassination, they would try to open a conversation about it only for them to remember their _taboo_ agreement.

Afterward, they parted ways at the bus stop where Hayami would be taking a ride back home. It was then they realized that they couldn't hold a proper conversation about anything else other than school and the assassination.

 _'Maybe it'll get better next time. Just like practicing math problems,'_ Hayami assured herself as she glanced out the window just like earlier. Only this time, the images outside blurred out from the acceleration of the bus she was in.

If she only knew how wrong she was.

◈◈◈

Her mother was working on her laptop in the living room when Rinka had arrived. Eager to show her final exam scores, she started to pull them out of her bag.

"Why are you late?"

She stopped short, the irate tone in her mother's voice dissipating her jubilant mood. "I was out with a friend to celebrate our final..." She was about to hand in her exam papers when her mother's face turned dark.

"You have the nerve to have fun with your failing marks. I thought that your teacher would be doing something about it?"

When her mother had received Rinka's previous midterm scores, she became more cynical of her daughter's 'negligence' on her studies. That's why she had consulted with Karasuma, the Class 3-E's homeroom teacher on record, who assured her that the students would be getting the best education so that they would be qualified to return to the main building.

But it turned out that was all for null. Well, once you transferred to the lowest class in a disintegrating classroom with a harsh environment, you should be expecting less from the students and their teachers as well.

Then her mother's gaze traveled to the papers in her clutch. "What is that?" she snapped.

"My final exam," Rinka answered timidly.

The blank look on the young girl's face irked her mother more. "Put them on the coffee table and get out of my sight. I'm sure they're going to be horrible again."

Rinka lowered her exam papers on the table before heading to her bedroom. Upon closing the door behind her, she heaved out a sigh with her hands coiling into fists.

She was supposed to be happy today. But because her mother had already lost trust in her ever since she ended up in Class 3-E, she could not help but torture herself with self-doubt. Feeling at the end of her rope, she wished that her father was still here. 

* * *

## 4.5

**【𝙿𝚛𝚘𝚏𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚃𝚒𝚖𝚎】**

⋆★⋆

For their summer assassination in Okinawa, Karasuma asked two professional killers to train the Class 3-E students. The first one to arrive was Lovro Brovski, a hitman dealer and Irina Jelavić's mentor. He was willing to help out in any way he could – even privately supervising the best marksmen in class, Chiba and Hayami.

"Since the two of you will execute the finishing blow of your plan, it is critical that your aim and accuracy be perfect," he said upon approaching the two.

The hitman dealer has an able-bodied physique, indicative of his experience, and black hair with pinprick brown eyes. Aging lines showed on his skin particularly on his protruding cheekbones and clearly defined chin with a scar etched on his left eye. He wore a black turtleneck top under an unbuttoned white shirt layered with a black blazer, then, suit trousers and black shoes with matching black gloves. Over and above his clothing was a grey trench coat.

When the young snipers had demonstrated their skills by landing direct hits on the targets, Lovro smiled pleasantly. "I can see why I was told that you are at the top of this class. Your sniping skills are on a professional level," he stated.

He took a few steps closer with hands behind his back. "But there is one thing that you must work on – _balance_. Based on your masterplan, you are to shoot the target from the waters," he said. "Floating on seawater is different from the waters in your makeshift pool. It will be deeper and more erratic due to the wind. I suggest that you practice shooting while your body is moving up-and-down."

They carried on with their practice while keeping steady on a wooden plank with a rolling barrel underneath. The drill had driven the top snipers into a relentless struggle. The hitman was right. This was not like when they were shooting in the pool; more balance and concentration was needed in this setup.

With this, Chiba's weight stumbled to the ground, making that five times in a row. Hayami walked over in his direction before bending down slightly, her face towering above him.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

He hummed and, then, accepted her hand. "This is harder than I thought," he said while dusting off his pants.

Hayami handed over the rifle he had dropped to the ground. "You'll get there. I know you can do it."

One look at her and he could see her unwavering confidence in him. At that moment, he felt his determination coming back. As he returned her smile, he took the rifle when Lovro turned up behind them.

"I like your attitude. For that, you just continue with your training as I have nothing more to teach you. But let me give you one piece of advice: during the execution, you must not only prepare your body but your mind and heart as well. Remember that."

Aware of what he was trying to say, they both nodded. Yet it was not until on the day of the assassination itself they were able to fully grasp it.

On the third day of their training, they finally become attuned to the wavy movement while maintaining their aim. The next day, Red Eye made his appearance to personally give tips to the sniper duo.

While Lovro had focused on their foundation for the Okinawa assassination, the sniper assassin challenged them to put their skills into an application – by shooting all the targets scattered within the forest.

They only have five minutes. Until then, he would be taking a nap somewhere since he still has the jet lag from his flight from Egypt.

Only three minutes have passed when Chiba and Hayami were finished gunning down all the targets. They each took a side in retrieving them from the forest.

Then Hayami spontaneously chanced upon Red Eye's sleeping figure beneath the shelter of the leaves. Somehow, he looked vulnerable with his eyes closed and blonde hair exposed but she knew better. Concealed by that defenseless form was a tiger ready to pounce for any sign of assault.

Wary of startling him, she crouched down beside him without making a sound. " _Red Eye_ -san," she called out.

The sniper's eyelids fluttered open when he saw a familiar silhouette. A distinct memory – of a girl with a deadpan look calling out his name under the blinding sunlight – flashed in his mind.

"Kyouko?"

Slightly perplexed at the mention of a name, not hers, she said, "Chiba and I are done with the task."

He slowly got up, realizing what he did. He drew in a breath. "I'm sorry for that," he said.

She replied with a bob of her head.

"How long was I out?" he asked as he rose to his feet.

She followed suit. "Not that long. We shot all the targets for three minutes. Now we are just taking them back."

While she searched for the last target, he gaped at her trekking figure from behind. The way she spoke and her demeanor – it somehow reminded him of his ex-wife, who was also his first love.

When they had returned, Chiba was already there refilling ammo in their guns. Red Eye checked the targets, all pierced clean, and with a satisfied nod, he proceeded to their next test.

That is, they have to hit him within two minutes as he wandered around the area. They were not allowed to step beyond the square that he had drawn on the ground with a stick. This was perfect for when they only have limited options while the target has more space to move.

"Of course, I won't go for more than one kilometer," he added right after pinning the target printout on his torso.

Back-to-back, the sniper duo tried to pinpoint their target's location, fingers ready on the trigger. Because they were adept at Korosensei's inhumane speed, they thought that tracking the sniper assassin would be easy.

They were deadbeat wrong.

Beads of sweat rolled on Chiba's forehead. Unlike Korosensei, who would dart around like a pinball, the target this time used the forest's cover to conceal himself from their sights.

"I don't see any movements," Hayami began to say. "So that means he is camping in one place."

It would be unfair if he had hidden in a way that would require them to move into the forest to see him. But this was a test, not a competition, so surely the professional assassin would not resort to such a meager ploy.

His hold on his sniper rifle tightened as he tried to assimilate Red Eye's position. _If I were a top-notch sniper, where would I be?_

"Two o'clock," Hayami muttered in a way that he could still hear it.

With one swift turn, he aimed his weapon to the tree where their target was taking cover. Before he and Hayami could open fire, the target already dashed away from his spot and out of their sight.

Still, Hayami was able to catch his silhouette with her eyes following him as he moved from tree to tree. Using her instincts to aim, she started raining pellets at him.

The professional assassin was, by then, getting disappointed at the young snipers. It seemed like the orange-haired girl was just pulling the trigger pointlessly and the raven-haired boy was hesitating with one knee bent down.

What he didn't know was Hayami's shots were on purpose. She was forcing him towards certain positions while Chiba was simply waiting for that decisive moment to strike.

With few options left, Red Eye climbed on the roof of the old building. It was too late when he had realized that -

_Woosh!_

Hayami turned towards Chiba's line of sight. There, she saw Red Eye – wearing a beanie and wrapped in a poncho with sunglasses on – having a splash of paint on his body.

"Good job." The words unconsciously flowed out from her mouth as she gawked at her companion, who managed to hit the bullseye of the target.

"You too," Chiba replied.

Both of them raised their hands for a fist bump only to find that the guns were in the way. So they settled with tapping the muzzle of their guns together as if having a toast.

"You two did great," the blonde sniper uttered after coming closer. He was dumbfounded at their teamwork and skill although it would actually take more than that to defeat him if this was a real fight.

"We still had a hard time," said Hayami.

"You did only have several seconds left, but at least you made it. I'm impressed that you were able to corner me back there," Red Eye stated to which he added with his arms crossed, "Watching the two of you work together really takes me back."

"I once had a partner at work too –" his face softened as a nostalgic smile carved his mouth "– although she and I were like cats and dogs; we would argue even over trivial matters. But when we're on a job, we became perfectly in sync making us undefeatable."

Their interest piqued, the two young snipers remained still and quiet as they stared at him.

So he continued as his face turned glum. "She was later on killed as revenge for one of our assassination targets. That's why –" he looked at the two simultaneously "– you should take care of each other. Never let the other one leave your sight."

_Since it was my fault that she died._

The sniper pair shared a look before replying at the same time, "Definitely."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I double-checked the manga's storyline and found out that Hayami was wearing pigtails after the start of the summer season and before the baseball match had ended. I read somewhere online (I forgot exactly where) that she had changed her hair during the basketball girl's match. 
> 
> I have a fun fact on Chiba's gift for Hayami: He originally planned to copy her 'lollipop' gift on his birthday when, after spending more time with her, he realized she deserved better. And, for the balloon part, that was actually Korosensei's idea. Chiba was hesitant at first to follow the octopus' idea but, then, he eventually thought that it could be fun (although while doing it, he had regretted it since it was more effort than necessary). 
> 
> Also, I like Red Eye's character. He's a chill dude and I can somehow sense a bit of Chiba-aura in him. That's why I included a part where his background, which I just made up, shared similarities with the sniper duo. I don't know, maybe that's just only me.
> 
> Okay, I'm sorry for this senseless chatter. I just want to share a few of my thoughts with you guys. 


	7. 【5】𝔸𝕌𝔾𝕌𝕊𝕋 𝔸𝔽𝔽𝔼ℂ𝕋𝕀𝕆ℕ𝕊

## ▢▢▢▢▢

##  5.1

【 **𝚂𝚗𝚒𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝙰𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗** 】

⋆★⋆

Tonight, they would put their summer assassination plan into reality. All of them have high hopes in this one especially with the meticulous and detailed planning, and rigorous training they had gone through.

Everyone in Class E was confident that they would succeed this time. All except for the two snipers who would hit the final blow of the plan. The success of the assassination would be critical to their accuracy and precision, which meant there was no room for error.

One fatal mistake and all would go down the drain.

Atop the hill, Chiba and Hayami began to take their clothes off, swimsuits underneath. Then they put them on their dummy selves, which Okajima and Sugaya had set up earlier.

Chiba shyly turned away when Hayami had unzipped her top and pulled down her skirt, revealing her two-piece, before she covered her torso with a jacket. Despite acknowledging to himself her attractive slender figure, he focused on the task at hand instead of admiring her further.

After putting on his black rash guard, a pair of hands that were not his gently zipped his back. "This could be our last time," said Hayami as her hands remained on him.

"Thanks." He turned around to face her. Deep down, he was starting to feel morose at the possibility that this could be the end. "Let's make this count."

"It was fun," she said just as a sigh escaped her lips.

"Mm."

They held their gaze at each other, measuring the other's thoughts and emotions. They were both nervous but at the same time pumped up to finish this especially with everyone being in sync right now in carrying out the plan.

They bumped their fists together as they both said, "Respect. Let's do our best."

◈◈◈

_Can I make it this time?_

They both thought of it at once right after they had shuffled their hiding spots as the third assassin named Gastro stood cautiously on the bright-lit stage inside the concert hall of Fukuma Palace Hotel.

Earlier this evening, they had failed to kill Korosensei, who transformed into his ultimate defense form. Although that could be claimed as progress since their target had to resort to his final defense this time, the fact that the top snipers of the class – with their high-grade skill and reliability – had missed, has made the two lose their confidence.

Unlike that time, the two snipers were now wielding real firearms that Korosensei has entrusted to them. When Chiba had heard the sound of gunfire, his heart thumped loudly inside his chest as Ritsu explained to him that Hayami had almost been shot by the gun-licking assassin.

 _'She almost died,'_ he thought fervently and shivered at the image of his partner's lifeless body filled with blood. It was made certain by then that the lives of the whole class were now in their hands.

With the pressure weighing the two, their octopus teacher passed on a piece of important advice on trusting and sharing their burden with their friends. Hearing his words cleared their minds with new resolve resonating inside the two.

Afterward, Korosensei blurted out his next and last instruction: _"Seat number 12! Stand and shoot!"_

Gastro shot the figure that sprung up from seat number 12. It turned out to be a doll, a _fake,_ which Sugaya had built together discreetly in a short time. From another direction, Chiba raised his arms holding the gun, "Ok", and then pulled the trigger. 

Much to Gastro's relief, the bullet missed. But he thought wrong. It turned out that the raven-haired sniper was targeting the hanging lights on the stage, which eventually knocked him out on his back. No sooner than that was Hayami's turn to fire, sending his 'delicious' gun flying from his hand.

How glad she was for hitting it finally this time. 

After tying up the unconscious assassin, their classmates joined the sniper duo and showered them with praises. Surrounded by her impressed friends, Hayami heaved out a relieved sigh when she met his gaze underneath that fringe.

The same thought paved into their heads concurrently: _We did well._ Then they came closer to each other to celebrate their win by bumping their arms together. Unlike before, elated smiles were carved on their faces. 

* * *

## 5.2

【 **𝚃𝚛𝚞𝚝𝚑 𝚂𝚎𝚛𝚞𝚖 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙳𝚊𝚛𝚎** 】

⋆★⋆

The next day, the government made an attempt to kill Korosensei before he could revert from his defense form. With everything they had gone through, the students spent the whole day sleeping from fatigue. And when they had come to before sunset, they watched the assassination unfold, which was another failure. As they quite expected.

Following that was the Test of Courage that the octopus has proposed as a way to incite romance among his students.

Although he had good intentions since the students were all about the assassination mission despite being middle-school students, the students still berated their teacher for being meddlesome. That was until they caught their other two teachers exiting the cave together, causing them to realize that Irina liked the straight-laced civil servant.

Hence, they set up an outdoor dinner date for the two, which ended with Irina landing a kiss on Karasuma's napkin before dabbing it to his mouth – an _indirect kiss_. For the students, they barely called that a 'success'.

They all began to return inside to resume their dinner when Okajima decided to ask Hayami to eat with him at the same table.

Sadly, he was beaten to it by Chiba. The said girl accepted the invitation and walked beside her raven-haired partner to a table good for two.

When Kurahashi had seen Okajima's dejected expression, she felt sympathy towards him, having fully known how it felt to be heartbroken. Just a moment ago, she just watched her crush, Karasuma, eat with another woman of high caliber. And yet, she was still inwardly glad that the two snipers were having a moment together.

"Oka-chin, you can eat with me," she told him.

He broke into a beam, which was soon wiped out upon discovering that they would be sitting with Sugaya, Mimura, Kimura, and Yada.

After his meal, Sugaya was coming back from the bathroom when he passed by Maehara alone on the table. His companions – Isogai, Kataoka, and Hinata – went to get desserts on the buffet table.

Maehara, then, pulled Sugaya into the seat next to him for them to check out Chiba and Hayami eating together silently at another table.

"I really think that something is going on between them," said Maehara as his suspicious gaze remained on the 'rumored' sniper couple.

"I don't even know anymore," Sugaya said with a shrug. Since he found it difficult to understand what the male sniper was thinking, he did not have it in him to ask Chiba about his relationship with his sniping companion.

Without warning, the prodigy duo slid on the vacant seats beside the two gossiping boys – Karma on Maehara's left and Nakamura on Sugaya's right.

"If you are curious, why don't you help us?" Nakamura asked as her eyebrows wiggled up and down.

"You see, we want to test this truth serum that Okuda-san has created for Korosensei to know all of his secrets," Karma explained after showing a small vial containing a transparent liquid, which had been tested on Korosensei with no success.

Sugaya arched his brow skeptically. "And Chiba and Hayami are your perfect lab rats?" he interjected. "That's too risky, man. What if it's harmful?"

"Don't worry. Okuda-san assured that it is safe."

 _'If Karma and Nakamura are involved, there is no such thing as safe,'_ the silver-haired boy thought. ' _I'm sure Maehara will not agree to this. He –'_

"Come on, Maehara-kun. I'll introduce you to a girl I know after this," Nakamura offered impishly.

The gigolo's face lit up. "Deal."

 _Oh boy._ Sugaya could only facepalm himself and hope for Chiba and Hayami's safety. "I'll come with you to make sure that this doesn't get out of control."

◈◈◈

With Ritsu listening in their conversation on Chiba's phone, they overheard Chiba ordering an orange juice after finishing their food. Both Karma and Maehara hastened on their feet as soon as the waiter stepped out of the kitchen with Chiba's drink on a tray.

"Excuse me." Maehara approached the waiter while Karma sneaked behind effortlessly. "Can you please tell me where the theater is?"

Whilst the waiter was busy answering a student's inquiry, Karma trickled a few drops of the serum into the juice.

"This is not going to end well," Sugaya muttered.

The blonde prankster snickered. "Well, not on Chiba-kun's part. For us, this is entertainment," she said.

Later on, Chiba has finished his 'spiked' orange juice. With this, Nakamura placed both hands on her hips as she called out everyone's attention.

"I think this is a good time to play truth or dare before we go back."

"I'll pass," Terasaka proclaimed. "I know that this is going to be another one of your antics."

With a mocking grin, Karma edged closer to the muscle-head. "Small brain and no guts – a perfect combo for a _chicken_." He snickered.

"Shut up, you red-head devil!" Terasaka bellowed before scratching the back of his head in annoyance. "Fine. I'll play your stupid game."

Besides him, Kurahashi, Okajima, Yada, Kimura, and of course, Maehara, Sugaya, and the prodigy duo were also playing. Terasaka's male friends also volunteered to accompany him.

Nakamura walked over to the class snipers' table. "You two should also join," she told them.

"No, thanks," said Hayami.

Chiba has the same answer.

Nakamura was not disheartened by this. "It will be more fun if you join since there are only eleven of us. This is also a chance for us to bond."

The sniper duo looked at each other,

> CHIBA: _Shall we?_
> 
> HAYAMI: _I'm not sleepy yet anyway._
> 
> CHIBA: _Me too._

Hayami turned back at the blonde prankster and said, "We'll play."

Watching them talk to each other with only eye contact has weirded out even Nakamura. Well, at least she got what she wanted.

◈◈◈

They settled inside Nakamura and Hayami's room to play the game. "We're actually in a girls' room!" Okajima proclaimed eagerly as he stepped inside, his eyes wandering. "I wonder if there are undies scattered around here."

Behind the semi-bald pervert was Chiba, who just spotted a familiar item – the keychain that he gave Hayami for her birthday – hanging from the duffel bag on a wooden chair. This made him feel flattered.

Then they formed into a circle on the floor with the glass bottle in the center. Nakamura was the first one to spin the bottle, which pointed towards Okajima.

"What's it going to be, Okajima-kun?" she asked. "Truth or dare?"

Being shameless and all, whichever was fine for him. "Dare," he said.

"Then –" her blue eyes darted towards the bed. She stood up and unfolded a white sheet in her hands "– wear a gown using this."

Only in his boxers, Okajima stood still while Yada and Kurahashi dressed him into an improvised gown made out of the bedsheet. After that, Nakamura wrapped his head with a towel that was provided by the hotel.

"Gorgeous!" Yada exclaimed, referring to their creation, which looked stylish.

"So, when is the Oscars going to start, Okajima?" Maehara teased.

While Nakamura was taking photos of him, Okajima acted out a few poses as if he was having a shoot. The rest shared some laughs and jokes at his hilarious look.

The next victim was Terasaka, who also chose 'dare' like the first. With this, he was tasked to do a headstand for one minute straight.

Terasaka scoffed. "Easy! I can do that." Then he hoisted his legs into the air with his palms pressing the floor to support his weight.

"See –" He was interrupted when Karma tickled his nose with a small feather. "Screw you, Karma! This is not part of the dare," he growled amidst the strain on his muscles and blood rushing down his head.

The red-head chuckled. "But I'm lending you a hand."

"Lending a hand, my ass!"

Terasaka's suffering from Karma's variety of torture continued for the rest of the minute. When he had swiveled the bottle, it ended up in Maehara's direction.

"Truth."

Since he was not good at coming up with a gossip-worthy question, Terasaka could only come up with this: "How many girls have you dated?"

Maehara glanced up at the ceiling as he counted the number inside his head. They knew then that it was indeed a lot given as to how he was taking his time.

"Thirty-two."

All of them stared at him repulsively as the girls pitied the short-haired gymnast named Okano.

"You are the worst," Kimura stated.

"Scumbag." Even Hayami couldn't help but speak up on behalf of the female population.

Then, finally, it was Chiba's turn. He picked the same as Maehara. He would rather give an honest answer than do ridiculous dares like the ones that Okajima and Terasaka had done.

A look of mischief glided across Maehara's features. Per the prodigy pranksters' instructions, he knew what to ask.

"Chiba, what do you think of Hayami right now?"

Chiba briefly glanced at Hayami, who was sitting beside Nakamura across the circle. He had already anticipated this kind of question. "She has my respect and she is a dependable partner. I also think that she looked good in her swimsuit yesterday..." His hand flew to his mouth.

_Shit. I did not intend to say that aloud._

As always, Nakamura had recorded that moment on her phone. She and Karma were grinning wickedly while the others were wearing goofy smiles aimed at Hayami.

The attention she was getting made it difficult for her to hide her blush.

Normally, Okajima would be cheering right now at Chiba, but not even a hint of amusement crossed his face. Sugaya, on his right, noticed this.

"Do you like being with her?" asked Nakamura.

Chiba was about to protest at the follow-up question, which was against the rules. Instead, he nodded. For some reason, his body was reacting against his will.

"Do you think that she is beautiful?" Kurahashi joined, oblivious to the fact that Chiba's honesty at the moment was all because of the drug that he had ingested earlier.

"Yes. Very." He had removed his hand and, then, quickly covered his mouth again after replying.

Hayami got on her feet and called his name before pacing to the door. He followed behind.

> MURAMATSU:Enjoy, you two!
> 
> NAKAMURA:Make sure to keep it Rated-PG!

When they had left the room, Hayami spun around and folded her arms. "What is going on with you?" she queried.

She found it odd for him to say that stuff. Usually, he would respond to the teasing and questions of others in a way that would not add fuel to the fire.

He gulped. "I'm not sure. I have been feeling funny ever since I drank my juice."

Her arms limped to her sides as it registered to her – seeing Maehara talking to the waiter, and Nakamura convincing them to join the game even after receiving their direct answer back at the restaurant.

Chiba gave her a questioning look, stepping aside when she passed by him to the door. She went back inside and marched towards her blonde roommate.

Their 'truth serum-matchmaking plan' was busted. 

◈◈◈

It turned out that the truth serum has side effects. In the morning, Chiba slept like a log despite being woken up by almost all of the boys in their absurd ways.

And so, they have to carry his weight to the cruise ship back to Tokyo.

The matchmaking scheme executed by Karma's group was eventually found out by Karasuma, who gave them an earful on board. Korosensei also lectured them although he covertly praised them afterward when Karasuma was not looking. Upon seeing the footage of last night's game, the octopus teacher was enthralled to witness a bit of romance material from his stoic students.

When the group involved had started to disperse, Maehara stepped in front of Nakamura instantly. "Hey, Nakamura. You haven't forgotten the deal we made, right?" he asked with his arms crossed.

"Of course not." She gave him a grin. "I can introduce you to her right now. Follow me." She sauntered her way to the pool area and that took him by surprise.

_The girl she knows is on this ship too?!_

He trailed behind her when his eyes caught sight of Kataoka and Okano having a chat. Nakamura stopped beside Okano and faced Maehara.

"Maehara-kun, this is Okano Hinata. She is from Class E like you," she said as her smile widened.

"W-WHAT?!" He still could not comprehend what was going on. Wide-eyed, he glanced at Nakamura then at the confused brunette. Even their female class rep was giving them a puzzled look.

"I said that I'm going to introduce you to a girl I know." The blonde prodigy swiftly moved behind Maehara. "Here she is," she added as she pushed his back towards Okano. "Now enjoy."

Before Kataoka could object, she was towed away by Nakamura. Maehara stood before Okano's petite frame whose arms were across her chest and her light purple eyes staring at him.

"What is going on?" she queried.

When he had explained what happened last night, Okano jabbed his arm. "So that's why Karasuma looked furious when I saw him earlier. You guys should really stop causing headaches," she said.

"But –" Maehara's face dropped "– I kind of wanted to help them since they usually keep their troubles to themselves."

Although a bit touched at his motive, her eyebrows furrowed when she heard him say with a sigh, "I should have known that Nakamura was messing with me when she made that deal with me."

"You just want to flirt with another girl!" she exclaimed as she swung her leg at him.

Casually dodging her middle kick, he said, "I don't know why she picked you out of all the girls in Class E. I already know you quite well."

Her gaze flickered to the floor with a huff. "You are so dense," she muttered under her breath.

"What did you say?"

She gave him a sharp look and said, "Nothing" before marching away with a foul mood.

◈◈◈

While Hayami was heading to the balcony to enjoy the breeze, she came across Chiba in the hallway. "You are finally up," she said.

"Where are you on to?" he asked as he walked beside her.

"Up."

"Can I come?"

Looking at the front, she said, "Sure."

Even though she had thought of spending some time alone, she did not mind having him as her company.

When they had reached the top, the wind blew on their faces as the heat from the sun radiated on their skin. They situated themselves on the edge, hands on the railing.

"What happened last night?" Chiba asked. All he could recall was the events up to dinner. After that, everything was black. The next he knew was he woke up on the bed and he was already on this ship.

Another one of the truth serum's side effects – _selective memory loss_. Particularly during the time while you were under its effects.

Hayami darted a wary look at him. "You don't remember the game we played?"

He turned his head to her, all the more lost. "We played a game?"

 _'Is this one of the side effects that Karma has mentioned?'_ she thought. This meant he couldn't remember the things he had said last night. Somehow, this amused her.

"Nothing," she quickly said as she looked away.

He wanted to probe further since it was beyond normal for him to suddenly have amnesia, but seeing her wear that serene smile as she admired the sea made him shake the matter off.

_It was probably nothing like she said._

* * *

##  5.3

【 **𝙰 𝙶𝚒𝚛𝚕 𝙸𝚗 𝚈𝚞𝚔𝚊𝚝𝚊** 】

⋆★⋆

While Chiba was contemplating if he should invite Hayami to the festival tonight, a large yellow creature appeared outside his bedroom. Stuck on the window, Korosensei started sobbing as he begged for him to come to the summer festival with everyone.

Chiba could not refuse. At least _she_ was also coming.

He was already waiting by the entrance of the shrine, leaning on the wall, when Hayami arrived at 6:00 pm. He was wearing his usual beanie, collared button-down shirt, and chino pants.

"You're early as always," she told him.

He straightened up, his eyes traveling from her head-to-toe. "You are wearing a _yukata,"_ he pointed out with a small smile.

With a stoic expression on her face, she crossed her arms and replied, "Don't get the wrong idea. The other girls have planned to wear one."

After meeting up with everyone else, Kaede Kayano started to fuss over Hayami as to how she looked 'cute' in a _yukata_.

The green-haired girl, then, glanced to the boy standing beside Hayami. "How about you, Chiba-kun? Do you think that Hayami-san is cute?"

Hayami whirled her head at him, who hummed with a nod. This caught her off-guard, making her think that he was still under the influence of a truth serum right now.

"Thanks," she uttered shyly.

◈◈◈

Watching the fireworks with everyone brought unexplainable joy to the two snipers. Their arms almost brushing together, they marveled at the blooming colors in the sky. The weight of the prizes that they had won in the shooting booth, the noise of the crowd, the scent of gunpowder and smoke – all were tucked away in the back of their minds. 

A lot has happened since Korosensei became their target and teacher. Ironically, the person that they were supposed to kill also became the best teacher they could ever have.

Aware of the comfort they have been feeling from their proximity, they caught each other's gaze and knew what the other one was thinking,

_I hope this year never ends._

Everyone went on their separate ways when the show was over. Chiba offered to walk Hayami to the bus station. They carried the prizes in their arms as they passed through the stalls. Due to their training, this was nothing for them although the pain in Hayami's foot could not be ignored. 

"Does it hurt?" Chiba asked after looking down at her wound inflicted by her wooden sandals.

"A bit." She shifted her arms, tightening her jaw when she had felt one of the prizes sliding.

With his eyes on her, he said, "You should rest there." He pointed on the nearby wooden bench. "Wait for me." Then he ran off to a stand where a middle-aged man was selling drinks.

" _Ojisan_ , do you have any bags?" Chiba asked the vendor.

The vendor looked at him before glancing at Hayami who was sitting opposite them. "I have paper bags, boy." He pulled out two brown paper bags. "Here. Let me help you with that," he said as he opened one of them for Chiba to put in his stuff.

"We don't want your girlfriend waiting," he added.

"She's not my girlfriend."

The vendor rummaged through his cooler as he chuckled. "No need to be shy." He handed out two soda cans to Chiba. "These are on me. Now give one to her. Make sure she's resting well, boy," he said, giving the raven-haired a slap on his back.

"Thank you," said Chiba reluctantly.

When he had returned, he helped Hayami fill the paper bag with her prizes. After that, he gave her the soda before opening his own.

"Thank you," she said, looking up at him who was taking a gulp. "How much is it?"

She was about to open her purse when he quickly intervened. "It's okay. That old man gave these drinks for free."

"That's nice of him." She sipped from her soda can.

He hummed, then, remembered something. "How is your foot?" he asked.

Her eyes darted to her right foot upon raising it a bit. "I already put a band-aid, so it doesn't hurt anymore."

"That's good." He sat down beside her, his elbows propped on his knees as he continued to drink without a word.

"It's finally the second semester," said Hayami while staring at her soda can wrapped between her hands.

He did not utter a reply.

Out of nowhere, her thoughts drifted to that night – when she had played truth or dare with some of their classmates – in which Chiba answered that question given to him. She wondered if he would have the same reply without the truth serum this time. Except, of course, for the last part regarding her on a swimsuit.

"Chiba, what do you think of me right now?"

Her question has sent him a tingling sensation as if he had heard it before. Unlike that time, it took him a few seconds to come up with an answer.

The corners of his mouth turned up. "You're a good partner. That's why I have respect for you."

There was a delay just as though there was another line coming. But he had stopped there and Hayami did not know what to make of it. Still, she appreciated his honesty – for the most part.

"I see." She faced forward, eyes back to the ground.

"Why do you ask?"

"Nothing."

Upon hearing that word from her for the second time, Chiba felt like that her 'nothing' was actually something. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so glad to have written the part where they faced Gastro since seeing them touch their arms together really had me squealing. 
> 
> At first, I planned to write a scene for the Test of Courage but I read (somewhere again) that Chiba and Hayami were quiet the whole time except when Korosensei had panicked upon seeing Chiba’s “eyeless” face. So there would be nothing for me to write. 
> 
> That’s why I just made up a scene for their last night in the resort. I love how the whole class low-key ships them too (in this fanfic, of course). 
> 
> When Kaede pointed out how Hayami was cute in a yukata, I actually got that in a seiyuu event where the AssClass voice actors did some voice acting on stage. I didn't understand the exact dialogue though since there was no English sub. I only relied on the context of the scene and some Japanese words that I'm aware of to figure out what she was saying. 
> 
> Also, I like the contradictions of Chiba and Hayami's personalities. Although they are described as direct and straightforward since they don't tone down their words, it doesn't mean that they speak out all of their thoughts. That's why their dialogues are usually at the minimum and the people around them find it difficult to predict them (as Sugaya mentioned in the previous part). The only ones that can somehow figure out their thoughts are Chiba and Hayami themselves, hence, some telepathy. 


	8. 【6】𝕊𝕀ℤℤ𝕃𝕀ℕ𝔾 𝕊𝔼ℙ𝕋𝔼𝕄𝔹𝔼ℝ

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Help me... I need... LIFE. 
> 
> The pandemic is actually affecting me even after finally graduating. I can't look for a job because the good ones are somewhat far away from my home so I either have to move to that place or endure taking public transport. 
> 
> But the problem is, it's not safe to take the public vehicles these days! Also, it's expensive to rent a place there! 
> 
> I need to start becoming independent! I have hopes and dreams... and my future awaits! 
> 
> *ahem* I'm sorry about that. The stress is getting to me. Maybe I'll just eat it away with chocolates. Yum. 
> 
> Going back...

## ▢▢▢▢▢▢

## 6.1

【 **𝙸𝚗 𝙰 𝚃𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚂𝚒𝚝𝚞𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗** 】

⋆★⋆

The Class 3-E's next lesson for their training was freerunning. For Karasuma, the class should learn this advanced skill to widen their options in their assassination. With this, he made them apply the basics that he had taught through a practice drill, which was to go from the top of the cliff to the end of the forest for one minute.

Since doing parkour involved body coordination and kinetic vision, Chiba knew himself that this was not his forte. The same could not be said though on his sniping partner.

When she had swung her legs branch-to-branch, her movements were graceful and her landing quiet but swift. With her agility and precision, she made it look like it was easy. But it was not.

Two feet above the ground, he extended his arms to the air right after springing his knees from a branch. When his feet had touched the next one, the shaking made him lose his balance. A hand grabbed his arm before he could plummet to the ground.

Looking over his shoulder, he saw Hayami, who told him, "Careful", with an encouraging nod. Then she went and hopped off ahead.

For a moment, he watched her shrinking figure and was once again mesmerized by her mobility. He gritted his teeth as he pressed down his heels for another leap.

He needed to catch up – to _her._

◈◈◈

After their first game of _cops and robbers_ , they played a game of tag the day after the next. This time, they needed to land three paintball hits on the two targets placed on Karasuma's front and back. In turn, if Karasuma shot them they would be out of the game.

The class divided themselves into groups with each role to play. Obviously, Chiba and Hayami were in the same group and were assigned to camp in one spot to wait for the target to pass by.

But, as of this moment, Chiba did not know what to make of this _tight_ situation he was in.

Hayami's body hovered above him as he lay on the ground with his elbows propped up. She was looking over her shoulder at the opening of the cave where Karasuma's legs could be seen prowling around the stream.

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

**_A few minutes ago, they were meant to ambush Karasuma with the final two hits to be delivered by the two snipers. But he saw through their plan and so Chiba managed only to hit once on the back target._ **

**_Karasuma was about to fire at him in the hiding spot when Maehara barged in, together with Isogai and Kataoka._ **

**_While the three were engaging in close combat with their teacher, Kataoka gave the two snipers a signal to escape. She thought that they'd rather not lose their best marksmen, who have higher chances of making the last shots, so early in the game._ **

**_The sniper duo expressed their gratitude with a nod before slipping away. Then they proceeded to the lower terrain where Karma's group was. When they had reached the stream, Hayami sensed their target's presence, so she pushed Chiba to a small cave, cramping the two of them inside._ **

**_"Hayami, what –"_ **

**_Her hand clamped over his mouth as she raised her index finger to her lips. With narrowed eyes, she pored over the opening of the cave._ **

**_A familiar pair of legs that belonged to Karasuma came into view. The pressure of her hand deepened, which made him realize the intimate position they were in right now._ **

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

He tried his hardest to steady his breathing despite the rapid hammering inside his chest. He could already feel his back becoming damp from his sweat. Like him, droplets of sweat formed on Hayami's forehead, her scent a mixture of dirt and... _her shampoo? Bath wash?_

 _'No. I shouldn't be thinking about these things,'_ he thought, and yet, he continued to gawk at her pretty solemn expression, then, down to her collarbone. His gaze lowered further to her chest which was more or less pressing on him.

This was bad. He was becoming like a certain semi-bald pervert.

He shook his thoughts off as he silently prayed for their target to leave the area. Right now, it didn't matter whether they win this game or not. It would be worse if their teacher were to find them in this compromising state.

Atop the tree, Karma fired his gun at Karasuma, who dodged with a cocky grin. Since his cover was blown, the red head launched from his spot and began exchanging blows with their teacher.

Karasuma was impressed at Karma's exceptional combat prowess; the student had definitely been picking up moves from him. It was a shame though that he could foresee another attack coming with the way Karma was taunting him as a distraction.

Hayami perceived this as a chance to land a shot on Karasuma while he was preoccupied. This would at least catch him off-guard and give the others a chance to strike.

Upon glancing at Chiba, a hint of shock flashed in her eyes. She removed her hand and, then, struggled to pull out her pistol before aiming it to one of the target's calves. When she was about to pull the trigger, her quivering left arm suddenly collapsed from exhaustion and due to the low dirt ceiling pushing her back down.

Her chin smashed onto Chiba's body right on the part between his neck and shoulder. A sharp breath escaped his mouth as his arms buckled at the sudden weight. With the tiny space between them gone, he was completely lying flat with Hayami on top.

After dashing out of a bush, Terasaka charged towards Karasuma with a roar. He wrapped his arms around the target's torso and tried to shift their masses down. Karasuma hardened his foothold while he wrestled Terasaka off him.

Meanwhile...

"Are you okay?" Chiba asked as he stared down at her orange-brown hair.

She muffled a "Yes" as her head shifted, which made the heat rise on his face. He could feel her thigh in between his legs along with her hips, her chest, and her heavy breathing on his body. In order to avoid touching her, he angled his hands away.

"Chiba," she mumbled. "Can I stay like this for a moment?"

He replied with a hum, thinking that she was hurt or too tired to move, when in fact she wanted to hide her red-beet face. As she could hear the rapid beating of his heart, she knew that he could probably feel hers too.

Outside the cave, Terasaka was still holding on to Karasuma while Karma kept on missing his shots on the targets. Like a shadow in the night, Nagisa walked out from a thicket of trees. That's when he pointed his gun on the back target just as Terasaka let go.

Shivers ran down Karasuma's spine. Before he could react, he felt a splatter on his back. He whirled around to see Nagisa's innocent smile.

The short blue-haired boy told him, "We won, Karasuma-sensei."

The students instantly emerged from their hiding spots, including the entangled snipers in the small cave, when Ritsu had announced their victory.

Faces flushed and chests heaving up and down, both Chiba and Hayami had crawled out of the hole awkwardly. Thankfully, their classmates were absorbed in their winning streak and did not notice them except for a certain redhead sadist.

Although everyone else started to disperse back to the top, the stoic snipers remained standing there while avoiding each other's eyes. With a lopsided grin, Karma walked up to them.

He tilted his head closer and asked, "How was it hiding inside the cave?"

He saw everything – from when they had arrived until they had rushed in the small cave when Karasuma came. "I can imagine the position that you were in with the cramped space and short amount of time to hide," he said further.

The two flinched at his words, which made his eyes narrow.

_Bingo._

"No need to be shy." He slung an arm over Chiba's shoulder. "Sometimes, these things happen to us teenagers," he said. Then he leaned towards the male sniper and whispered, "Admit it. You liked _it_."

Chiba jerked away as he began to burst out "Of course –" when his gaze glossed over her. He gave Karma a sharp turn of his head before stomping on ahead, his ears flushed pink. The red head's smirk widened at the sight.

Afterward, Hayami climbed back up and pondered on what Karma had said to incite such a reaction from Chiba, which was a once in a blue moon thing. From the corner of her eye, a flash of yellow and a pair of teasing aqua blue eyes popped out from behind.

"Hey, hey, Rinka," Nakamura chirped as they made their way inside the building with a knowing smile across her face. "Karma told me the _tight_ spot you were in with Chiba-kun earlier. Can you tell me what happened exactly?"

 _'Why can't they leave us alone?'_ Hayami thought.

"Nothing happened," the words ran off her mouth as she increased her pace.

Nakamura caught up to her. "Was there physical contact? Did your heart race?" she bombarded when a hand flew to her mouth. "Perhaps, you kissed?"

Hayami halted, inciting a grin on Nakamura's features.

_Gotcha._

Despite Hayami's attempt of putting on an unfazed look, her lips trembled. "We only hid there. Period," she said before sliding the door open and stepping inside their classroom.

Ignoring everything else, she took her seat. Her sights fell on her right palm where she could still feel the sensation of his mouth.

 _It's as if he kissed me there_.

After sucking in a deep breath, she maintained a blank serious expression. Unbeknownst to her, her partner has been piercing holes on her with his gaze ever since she arrived in the room. 

* * *

## 6.2

【 **𝙲𝚘𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚊𝚖𝚎𝚜** 】

⋆★⋆

Ever since Yada had prompted the use of nicknames, the students of Class 3-E have been feeling awkward and embarrassed whenever they were called or they called out someone. Still, there were exceptional few who were quick to be accustomed to it – particularly the prodigy duo.

"Hey, _Chuuniban,_ " Nakamura called Karma out with an elbow on his side. "Look." Using her eyes, she pointed at Chiba's seat to where Hayami was approaching.

"I asked Rinka earlier what nickname she gave for Chiba-kun. From that, I can guess what he gave her in return," she added before telling him her 'guess'.

"You're probably wrong, _Gyaru English_."

Her eyebrow arched. "Oh, so you think you can do better?" she dared.

After turning his head to the topic of their conversation, a hint of amusement made its way on his face. "We'll see about that," he drawled.

"Chi- _Adult Game Protagonist,_ Isogai has suggested something for the game today. He will discuss it with everyone later during lunch but he first wants to know what you think," said Hayami.

"Okay." When Chiba had looked up, he noticed something from her. "You're shaking," he pointed out.

She covered her mouth as her other hand slid onto her stomach. "It's just... your codename... it's hilarious," she managed to say in between giggles.

His head hanged low over his desk and said, "I don't know why that name was given to me. I wonder who came up with that idea."

While fixing his glasses, Takebayashi appeared by their side. "That's because the protagonists in erotic games also have their eyes hidden or are covered with their hair," he explained.

"I wouldn't be surprised if you were also the one who came up with mine." Although Hayami was back to her aloof self, there was still a tinge of humor in her tone.

The glasses otaku crossed his arms. "Yours is _Tsundere Sniper_? No, that wasn't me but I have to admit that it perfectly suits you," he stated.

It was Chiba's turn to let out a chortle. With this, Hayami gave him a cold glance.

"There's only one more person then that should be responsible for my nickname," she said as her steel gaze shifted towards the semi-bald pervert, who had claimed that she was a _tsundere_ from the time when they rescued Itona Horibe from his guardian named Shiro.

"What did you put for me?" Chiba asked her.

" _Sniping Partner._ " She paused. "And you?"

His mouth parted upon hearing her reply. Hesitantly, he uttered " _Sniping Partner"_ too.

The two stared at each other with both of them at a loss for words. Takebayashi could only sigh at the ensuing awkwardness, having regretted his initiative to engage in a conversation with the frigid pair.

"Anyway –" Takebayashi cleared his throat "– if you two had the same names, then you would be called _Sniping Partner 1_ and _Sniping Partner 2_."

"I would actually prefer that," said Hayami.

Chiba nodded in agreement. _At least it is simple and less embarrassing._

◈◈◈

"I knew it!" Nakamura pumped her fist and turned to her rival after. "I told you so. This means a free meal for me later," she sang.

Karma shrugged coolly. "Alright, you win this time, _Gyaru English,_ " he said when he felt the hairs of his neck standing up.

Nakamura also picked up on it – the sensation of someone creeping from behind. When Karma had lowered his gaze, he saw blue hair and a gentle smile on its face.

"Are you two making a bet again?" Nagisa, or _Gender,_ asked.

"Yup." Nakamura was swift to recover and aimed her smug look at Karma, who was still stunned from the blue hair's inconspicuous bloodlust.

After being filled in on the details of the bet, Nagisa looked at the red head. "What did you think Chiba-kun wrote?" he asked.

Back to his cool-headedness, Karma replied, " _Sniping Honey~"_

His answer made them perplexed as they thought simultaneously:

Nagisa – _No wonder he got it wrong._

Nakamura – _Now I feel like I haven't won the bet._

Little they did know that the taciturn sniper overheard their exchange while he and Hayami were discussing Isogai's plan for their game of tag later. " _Sniping Honey_ ," he mumbled unconsciously to himself, which the orange-haired picked up.

Having heard only the word 'sniping', she mistook him for calling her nickname. "Hm?" she responded, her gaze slipping from the blueprint that contained the layout of the mountain.

He lowered his chin in a panic as he said, "N-Nothing."

It sounded as if he had literally addressed her with that _name_. 

* * *

## 6.3

【 **𝚂𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚍 𝙳𝚊𝚝𝚎: 𝙼𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚎 𝚅𝚒𝚎𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚐** 】

⋆★⋆

This time, they would be going on a typical date – watching a movie. Since there would be no more gun shooting or anything that would require them to use their assassination skills, the pressure to act around normally in a 'date' overwhelmed the two.

Besides school and assassination, they have no other common interests. Including their choice of movies. 

"Let us watch this one." Chiba pointed at the poster of a sci-fi movie.

As she was not keen on watching this genre or any other movies, she could only muster a nod. She only agreed to this since Chiba had asked her out. And, the taciturn boy – having not much experience in going out with a girl – had resorted to a cliché date setting even though, same as her, he was not that interested.

Trailing behind them was Korosensei dressed as a woman. He was flabbergasted as he eavesdropped on their exchange using a listening device attached to his elongated tentacle, camouflaged to the flooring.

 _'Chiba-kun, you should have asked Hayami-san first! Although she is the 'whatever-you-want' type, it is still better to ask for her opinion or else you will have no communication,'_ he thought frantically.

After buying their tickets, Hayami's gaze traveled towards the snack booth. "Do you want to buy some popcorn?" she asked her date.

"I'm good. We'll be eating after anyway," he replied.

Korosensei – _Hayami-san, why are you not being upfront about wanting to eat popcorn? I know that you are being wary about Chiba-kun on your date but you have to know that it is okay to be honest like your usual self. Especially if it's with him!_

They entered the theater and proceeded to their seats. While the movie was playing, both of them were silent when Chiba held back his yawn. He did not know why he chose this movie in the first place. He had to make a last-minute pick or else this would have been all for nothing.

Stealing a glance at her, she was watching at the screen earnestly although he was not sure whether she liked it or not.

_I better ask her later._

◈◈◈

Hayami was skimming over the menu of the restaurant when Chiba asked her, "Did you like the movie?"

Without looking up, she answered, "It was okay."

He did not delve into it further since she seemed like she was disinterested. This made him restless – at the thought of her already getting bored. After all, he was not sociable like Maehara or charismatic like Isogai.

_What if she gets tired of me?_

An unsettling feeling churned in the pit of his stomach, which he hid by busying himself with the menu.

After deciding on her order, Hayami set down the menu when she became aware of her mistake. She was not supposed to answer his question earlier that way. Because she was too focused on the menu items, what she had blurted out was not well-thought.

She looked up, wanting to redeem herself, only to find him gazing at the menu intently. So she decided to save it for later.

And that later never came.

On the further side of the room, a certain octopus in disguise has been squirming from uneasiness on his seat while indulging in the _tiramisu_ dessert before him. Although he fully supported the sniper pair, he could not help but feel disconcerted at them as they were now. Just as he thought, despite the improvements of his students in the assassination, they were still lacking greatly in the romance field.

But that did not mean that what he witnessed today was not good enough material for his novel.

Upon leaving the restaurant, a waiter bowed after them with an expression of gratitude. That's when the same thought pierced both minds – _What is up with me?_

Even if it was a given that they were introverts, that was not enough reason to have their dates ended stagnantly twice in a row.

And yet, they have no issue keeping quiet as they headed to the bus stop since they found comfort just from walking beside each other in silence like their peaceful walks in the forest.

When they had arrived, Hayami turned towards him and saw his anxious expression. Her heart skipping a beat, she waited for him in dismay.

He inhaled deeply before saying, "Let's do this again."

Relief washed over her and her soft expression gave him a startle. "I thought that you were going to end it," she said.

_Since you are already sick of whatever this is between us._

Rubbing the back of his neck, he said, "Although it was awkward, I still want to be with you." _Be it may inside or outside the school._ "That's why I want to keep trying."

When he had averted his gaze back to her, she gave him a nod with a small smile on her face.

"Yeah. Let's continue to get along." 

* * *

## 6.4

【 **𝙲𝚊𝚜𝚞𝚊𝚕 𝚃𝚊𝚕𝚔 𝟷𝟶𝟷** 】

⋆★⋆

On a Saturday, some of the girls in Class 3-E have gathered in the mall to restock their closets with a new set of clothes. It was also the perfect chance for them to bond together as girls.

"I have to buy new clothes since mine doesn't fit me anymore even though they are still fine," Yada stated as they entered the department store.

Nakamura bent over with her eyes glued on the brunette's chest. "No wonder. Since your breasts have gotten bigger, Touka," she said.

"Jeez!" After covering her front with her arms, Yada cried, "Will you stop staring?!"

Walking ahead of them was Kayano, who pierced a look of envy over her shoulder on Yada's bosom before glancing down at her own 'forever flat' chest.

 _'When will they start growing?'_ she thought helplessly.

"You know, it has been a while since I last went out to go shopping," Kanzaki said from Kayano's left as her hand gracefully touched her cheek. "Due to our studies and assassination, I rarely have the time to do other stuff."

"Thank goodness we have the time today!" Kayano interjected, her hazel eyes brimming with energy.

Then her face fell as she added, "It's a shame that the others couldn't join."

While waving her finger, Nakamura said, "Like what Bitch-sensei has told us – fashion is also an important skill for an assassin. We are lucky that we have Touka and Kurahashi to ask for tips."

"Hayami-san can also dress pretty well," the petite green-haired pointed out, which made everyone else glance in Hayami's direction. "She looks feminine and more mature in her casual clothes."

"I agree. Haya-chan looks cute in them!" Kurahashi exclaimed upon clasping Hayami's arm.

The stoic sniper simply said, "Thanks."

The group, then, proceeded to the women's section and looked around. Hayami was brought to a halt when she had come across a mannequin clad in a floral dress with white cotton long-sleeves underneath.

Yada passed by and caught sight of Hayami taking a closer look at the mannequin. "What a cute dress. Are you going to try it on?" she asked.

"The floral design seems too much for me," said Hayami.

Then Nakamura showed up unceremoniously with a sneer and a hand under her chin. "Ho ho ho... Do you plan to wear that on your date with Chiba-kun?"

Hayami paid her no mind as she started to examine the items on a rack. But her silence only prompted the blonde prankster to grin more and slide closer. "Why are you not saying anything? You two actually go on dates?" she teased.

She leaned closely towards Hayami's ear with a hand by the corner of her mouth. "Why don't you wear this for your next date instead?" she whispered as she pulled a red lingerie out of thin air. "I'm sure he will like it very much."

Flustered and ticked off at the same time, Hayami snatched the provocative garment before chucking it away. "Rio, will you stop it?" she berated in a tone that they had never heard her use before.

Even if it was so much entertaining to harass Hayami, Nakamura knew when to retreat. And so she excused herself and broke into a jog towards her next victim.

Upon seeing the stoic sniper react that much from Nakamura's heckling, Yada could not help but presume that Hayami and Chiba have indeed been going out – especially when Hayami did not even deny the blonde's allegations.

◈◈◈

Across the table were Class 3-E's class representatives – Yuuma Isogai and Megu Kataoka. Each of them has a drink on the table that had been served by Isogai right before ending his part-time shift.

The girl in a ponytail with light brown hair intertwined her fingers around her lemonade as she asked, "Why did you want to meet with us, Chiba-kun?"

After taking a sip, Chiba put down his coffee as his finger began to tap on the cup. "I..." he trailed off, looking away from their accommodating gazes.

He did not know where to start especially with the two class reps, which he had rarely interacted with personally. But this was now or never. He even made the effort of coming to this restaurant where Isogai was working, so there was no way that he would back down.

"I need advice on how to engage in a longer conversation with someone especially when you're –" he gulped "– on a date."

Isogai and Kataoka exchanged looks, thinking similarly that their classmate's concern was unexpected.

"Do you mean how to converse casually?" the spiky brown-haired _ikemen_ clarified.

"And, how to make it last long?" added Kataoka.

Chiba nodded.

With eyebrows furrowed, Isogai looked down as he contemplated it. "May I ask who this someone is?" he asked although the class reps already knew the answer, one name flashing in both minds:

**_Hayami_ **

"She's from our class," Chiba answered in reluctance. "A friend."

Both of their shoulders slumped with a sigh from their mouths as they had hoped that they would get a direct confession from him. It turned out they were pushing their luck too soon.

"You don't need to think about it too much," Kataoka began to say. "Just talk like you usually do in class."

"But the only topics I know are about school and assassination," Chiba reasoned.

Isogai lifted his index finger and said, "Start by asking questions. Maybe about the things that she likes, her interests, and so on. After she gives her answer, you can provide your thoughts based on what you currently know."

"Be honest and don't try too hard. Your conversations will flow naturally that way," Kataoka inferred.

"I'm curious about one thing," Isogai followed. "What caused you to ask for advice?"

"Isogai-kun's right. Did a problem arise when you went out with her?"

"When we went to the movies, we couldn't talk that much so it was kind of awkward for both of us," Chiba replied.

Somehow, Kataoka found what she had heard adorable while her fellow class rep raised one eyebrow. "It sounds to me that you are both quiet and reserved," he pointed out. "Then there should be no problem."

When confusion had crossed on the raven hair's face, Kataoka explained, "What Isogai-kun meant is that since you two are not the type to talk a lot, there is no need for you to become talkative whenever you are together."

Although he didn't say a word, Chiba displayed a troubled look as he was half-convinced at the statement.

"Chiba-kun, you need to relax. There is nothing wrong with just enjoying each other's company," said Kataoka

The _ikemen_ class rep folded his arms across the table before leaning forward with a solemn expression. "Chiba, do you want to be with her?" he asked.

The taciturn sniper nodded in reply.

"Do you like being with her?"

Feeling like he was having a _déjà vu,_ he nodded again.

Isogai reached his arm out and gave Chiba an encouraging pat. "Then stop worrying and just be yourself! I'm sure that she also wants that," he said with a beam while Kataoka, sipping on her drink, bobbed her head in agreement.

 _'If it's Hayami, she will definitely not mind_ ,' Isogai thought.

Chiba dipped his head slightly as he uttered, "I'll keep those in mind. Thank you for your help."

"I'm surprised that you came to us for advice, Chiba-kun," Kataoka said. Usually, other students would only come to them for school-related stuff and, in their class, for matters about the assassination.

Chiba tilted his chin up as he replied, "You two are the only decent people that I can rely on in this case."

Even though he had actually thought of asking Karma and Nakamura as they were the few ones who were acquainted with his and Hayami's relationship _,_ he did not want to be on the receiving end of their incessant teasing any more than he already was. The girls in the class were out-of-the-question as well although some of them could help. Sugaya was all right, but he was not sure if he was the right guy in this sort of matter.

All that remained were the two most reliable people in the class besides his sniping partner. They also have a good 'work' relationship between them, so he might as well hear their thoughts.

◈◈◈

After shopping, Hayami decided to take a rest on the bench right outside the store. When she had arrived, Nakamura was already sitting there, with a paper bag beside her feet, while engrossed on her phone.

Kurahashi came after with a satisfied smile on her face. "It feels refreshing to buy the things that you want," she proclaimed before plopping down on the empty spot of Hayami's left side.

"The others are sure taking their time," said Hayami.

"I already sent them a message to meet us here for lunch," Nakamura stated, her eyes still honed on her phone as her fingers tapped fervently. "Let's just wait for now."

Since they were simply waiting, Hayami saw this as a chance to consult with the blonde prankster. "Rio," she called out. "How do you hold a conversation with a boy while you're hanging out outside school?"

This hooked Nakamura's attention, her fingers stopping as she looked at Hayami incredulously with one eyebrow up. "Aren't you already fine the way you are?"

"Still, it feels awkward when I don't know what else to say. Maybe I should become better in conversing like you and Kurahashi," Hayami explained.

Jumping up from her seat, the wavy-haired beetle-lover spouted, "How about talking about your own interests? That's what I do whenever I just want to chat."

Hayami nodded. For her, it was a good idea. _As what you would expect of Bitch-sensei's disciple._

On one hand, a wrinkle formed between Nakamura's brows. "Do you need to be sociable when you're with him?" She reclined back, her hand supporting on the bench. "Act normal. Talk normally. Don't sweat out the details. Chiba-kun won't dislike you for who you are."

"This is not about Chiba," Hayami retorted as she crossed her arms.

> Nakamura – _It's obvious that you were talking about him._
> 
> Kurahashi – _Haya-chan is so cute when she is bashful._

"Right," Nakamura deadpanned with a flick of her hand.

Then she added, "You two should just be happy in the silence that you share, or –" she paused as a sleazy grin molded on her features "– if you are stuck, you can grab his arm."

In a swift motion, she captured Hayami's arm. "Then nuzzle your head on his shoulder and rub your body on him like this," she carried on while acting out every action that she was saying.

Reaching her limit, Hayami pushed Nakamura away, having regret in asking the blonde prankster for tips. Still, the blonde did have a point on her previous statements. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 6.1 really had me squealing as I wrote it. You can say that their 'cave moment' was tight (hahaha... ok that was not funny). 
> 
> When I was writing Prompt 6.2, I had a difficult time coming up with the details that I had to rewrite it a few times. I thought of removing the 'codenames' segment from the story since there was not much significance - except for the comedy aspect - but I also want to share my assumption that Chiba and Hayami came up with the same nicknames for each other. 
> 
> I adore the platonic relationship of the class representatives. They blend together so well, while Chiba and Hayami complement each other. I ship the two although I'm expecting that their relationship will develop into romance when they become adults. 
> 
> Please stay safe, guys. I hope you are doing well amidst the pandemic. And thank you for your reads and kudos!


	9. 【7】𝕆ℂ𝕋𝕆𝔹𝔼ℝ 𝕆ℂℂ𝔸𝕊𝕀𝕆ℕ𝕊

## ▢▢▢▢▢▢▢

## 7.1

【 **𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙲𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚛 𝙷𝚎 𝙵𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍** 】

⋆★⋆

Chiba was overridden with guilt when an old man was injured because of their class's recklessness and arrogance. No wonder Korosensei's tentacle hurt like a hundred knives when it had slapped his cheek.

Looking at Hayami at that time, he could tell that she had felt the same.

As compensation, they have to lend a hand in the nursery, which was owned by the old man. They were also forbidden to review for the upcoming midterms this second semester.

They have indeed become stronger over the past months. The pressure to reach the deadline of earth's destruction while balancing their studies had caused them to be carried away. But that was no excuse to act like kings of the jungle. Since their victory in the _buoyoushi_ athletic festival, they had forgotten their humble roots.

For the renovation of the nursery, Chiba has worked his all on its design. And, even though there was not a lot of time, he had made sure that every part of the structure and furniture was sturdy and safe to use. He had also put into account the practicality and functionality of the design. All with the help of Ukai, who was Karasuma's colleague and a licensed architect.

As a result, he found what he could do in the future with the skills that he polished in this class.

Although today was the final day before their midterm exams, he inspected the building before retreating under the shade of the tree when lunch period had arrived.

Leaning against the trunk, he exhausted a deep breath when a bottle popped out in front of his face. He looked up to see Hayami carrying two lunch bags in her other hand with a blank yet tired expression on her face.

He took the juice from her as he uttered a "Thank you" before twisting its cap and tilting it up for a swig.

"We are finished placing the shelves in the library," she said as she handed him his bento. Then she settled down the grass beside him.

"Okay. I'll check it later."

After opening her bento box, she said, "I'll come with you just in case there are repairs."

He broke into a small smile and hummed in reply.

Hayami was chewing on her food when her eyes blinked at his radiant face. "You look like you are having fun," she pointed out. "Is your lunch that good?"

"I found something that I want to do in the future."

She stopped. Their career path orientation was still months away and yet, he figured out already what he was going to choose.

"What is it?" she asked carefully, somewhat antsy at his answer.

He took a wistful look at the now two-floor nursery – its expansion designed by his own hands and constructed by the whole class, which has made it fulfilling as well as enticing to do it again.

"An architect. Like Ukai-san and my father." He, then, returned his gaze at her. "I want to help people build their homes and create a design that everyone will enjoy building. And –" He glanced down at his bento bashfully thinking:

_I want you to see them, my designs, and then tell me 'Good job' as you always have._

Her face turned gentle. "I see." Seeing him become enthusiastic about something that he liked has strengthened her adoration of him. "The job suits you perfectly. You have my support."

"How about you?" he asked her.

She gulped, then, her eyes fell to the ground. "I haven't thought about it since I don't know what I want to do."

"You'll find it," he said as he gave her an assuring nod.

◈◈◈

After finishing their lunch, they went to the library. Hayami patiently stood there as he, the one well-versed on this, did the final inspection. Marking the last tick on his checklist, he turned around to face her. "Done," he said.

"They are all fine?" she asked.

"Mm."

When she had started staring at him without moving an inch, it made him felt uneasy; it was like she was looking straight into his eyes even though she couldn't see it.

"Bow down."

Despite the quizzical look on his features, there was not a slight change in her demeanor. Unperturbed, she said further, "Lower your head."

Still clueless at her bizarre command, he bent forward hesitantly while trying to keep his eyes on her. Her arm lifted until her palm touched his mop of black hair.

"Good job," she said. Before she could pull back her hand, Chiba's reflexes had kicked in when he grabbed her arm.

As he tipped his head up, a tinge of red colored the tips of his ears. "What was that about?" he blurted out in bewilderment.

She smiled. "You were asking for it," she said. "I saw it on your face."

Straightening his back, he lowered their arms. "Patting my head?" He was sure he did not ask for that; it had not even crossed his mind.

"Oh. I just want to do that," she admitted nonchalantly.

Amused, he tilted his head to the side, completely forgetting his hand on her. "Why?" he asked. She was not one to show affection neither to ask for it. Now he was very curious about her reason.

"Because –" she held her chin down "– you remind me of a cat," she said upon raising her finger.

Stifling a chortle, he said, "A cat? Really?" That was totally... quaint. He has no idea why he was being compared to a feline mammal.

She nodded as if it was obvious enough; that it somehow made the most sense. And the look on her face right now made him want to cross the border.

With this, he tugged her arm closer to him. Then he leaned down and whispered in her ear in a velvety tone, "Do I seem like a cat to you?"

No words escaped her mouth as every part of her consciousness zeroed in on his face, his breath touching her nose. In between the strands of his bangs, she could make out a glimpse of his eyes. An urge to brush away that fringe to have a full view resonated within her.

"Are you going to kiss?"

They both jerked away from each other, turning their heads to a young boy hugging a stuffed bunny. His round purple eyes ogled at them innocently and curiously.

Chiba held the nape of his neck. "No..." he said meekly.

On one hand, Hayami rubbed her left elbow with her right hand as her face flashed on a look of embarrassment.

_Did we look like we were going to kiss?_

* * *

## 7.2

【 **𝙼𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙳𝚊𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚎𝚛** 】

⋆★⋆

Rinka's exam papers shook in her mother's clutch before slamming them on the table. "I thought you were getting better from your first-semester finals. Now, you have taken a step back!" she yelled furiously.

The young girl turned away in disgrace with her right hand on her left elbow. The results of their midterms were expected due to the time spent in labor – instead of studying – as penance for the old principal whom they had caused to be hospitalized. But the feeling of disappointment still did not escape the Class 3-E students and their teachers. Including their parents.

"Aren't you going to say something? You're always like this. You don't care about your studies even after all the work I've done for you," her mother rattled, eyes filled with disgust and fury.

 _'No, that is not true,'_ Rinka thought woefully.

After her mother was done eating, she rushed back into her room, leaving her daughter alone. Rinka cleaned up the dishes, as she always did, when hot liquid trickled down her cheeks. A heavy feeling settled in her chest as her meager sobs were drowned by the gush of water coming from the faucet.

At the present moment, she craved for someone's presence – _his_ comfort.

She briskly made her way to her bedroom and put on her cardigan. Then, taking her phone, she summoned Ritsu on the screen.

◈◈◈

_10:15_ pm. The doorbell rang.

While in the middle of doing homework, Chiba heaved up from the floor of the living room to greet the unprecedented guest. After swinging the door open, the person behind took him by surprise.

Her pigtails were missing with her eyes slightly red and swollen. Her hands were empty except for her phone, which meant that she had come here out of a hurry despite the distance of their homes.

He pursed his lips before positing, "What are you doing here?"

She folded her arms as lines etched in between her eyebrows. "I did not know what to do, so I asked Ritsu for your address," she answered vaguely.

"Ryuu, who is that?"

He looked over his shoulder to see his mother peeking out from the kitchen whose pupils dilated at the sight of a girl – her son's age – standing at the main door.

"Is she your girlfriend?" she piped as she hurried towards them.

"No," he replied shortly, being clueless on how to explain a classmate's sudden visit to their house in the middle of the night.

So Hayami did it in his stead. "Good evening. My name is Hayami Rinka, Chiba-kun's classmate. I want to discuss something with your son, so I'm sorry for intruding in your home." As a greeting, she bowed down politely.

His mother smiled tender-heartedly. "Come inside, Hayami." She started to walk towards the living room as Chiba stepped aside to let his guest in.

Eyes straight ahead, Hayami followed his mother. Moments ago she was feeling overwrought, aware that she would be in trouble for leaving the house at this hour, although she turned calm upon seeing him and briefly engaging with his considerate mother.

Chiba had taken a seat on the couch when she sat down beside him. His mother remained standing by the doorway as she asked, "Do you want some tea?"

"No, thank you. I won't be here for long."

The slight uneasiness on the young girl's face made his mother ask, "Do your parents know that you're here?"

When those emerald eyes had darted away, she connected some of the dots. "I'll leave you two alone then," she said before disappearing out of the room with Hayami's gaze following her.

"Your mother is kind," Hayami proclaimed as she looked at him.

He knew that this was not the time to talk about his family. He turned towards her and asked in a fruity tone, "What happened?"

She could not remember the last time she opened her troubles to someone else. Although it was difficult to find the right words, she still made the effort of letting them out while he listened intently. Because of that, a weight was lifted off her chest.

"I know how you feel," he began to say. "But that doesn't mean we should continue to shoulder everything by ourselves. Remember what Korosensei has told us?" When she had bobbed her head, he continued, "We can't stop everyone from worrying over us especially our family. That's why the least we can do is to let them know what we feel and to share our troubles with them."

In the past, he had kept everything to himself from his family, which put a barrier between them. That's why they never understood him back then until Korosensei taught him a lesson in Okinawa when they were facing Gastro. It was because he started placing his trust in other people that he was able to open up to his parents.

He knew that she would have to do the same. If only she would take the first step.

While she kept silent, he carried further, "Why don't you tell your mother what you told me? It's what you have been feeling all this time, right?"

"Won't she be bothered by it?" she asked quietly.

"That's because she cares. I'm sure she still wants to know how you feel despite that." He gave her a smile that was identical to that of his mother.

Her apathetic face broke down as she said in a mellow tone, "Thank you, Chiba" with the corners of her mouth curved up. Looking relaxed unlike before, she stood up from her seat.

"It's time for me to go back. I should greet your mother before I leave."

◈◈◈

It was already a norm for the sniper duo to not say something whenever they walk together. Instead, they wallowed into each other's presence, the darkness enveloping their surroundings and the footsteps on the ground bringing them into shallow serenity.

They were on their way to the bus stop when Rinka noticed an all-too-familiar silhouette walking in their direction. Her feet became frozen into place.

"Rinka?" The figure broke into a jog, now coming closer.

It was her mother.

"Mom..." She was about to apologize for running away when she was cut-off with a tight embrace.

Her mother blurted, "I was so worried when I couldn't find you in the house. I thought something happened to you!" Then tears sprung out from her eyes, which were emerald, like the ones that her daughter has.

"When I called, your homeroom teacher said that you would be here," she added. "It was odd though because I thought his voice has changed."

 _'That was definitely Korosensei, not Karasuma-sensei,'_ the two snipers thought at the same time.

She pulled away and straightened her back before wiping her cheeks. She was wearing an expression that Rinka had never seen since her father's death – a gentle one.

"I'm glad that you are okay." Her eyes darted to the quiet boy with bangs covering half of his face. "So you went to your boyfriend's house?" she queried.

"He's not my boyfriend. He's my classmate, Chiba Ryuunosuke," Rinka stated a bit sheepishly. Somehow, she's feeling nervous at the fact that her mother was meeting him right now.

Her mother dipped her head at the said boy. "Thank you for taking care of my daughter. I'm sorry for the trouble," she said.

This made Chiba feel self-conscious and humbled. With this, he returned the gesture with a small bow as he replied, "It is no trouble at all."

After that, both the mother and daughter bid their goodbyes to him. With a wave, he watched their retreating figures, mulling over the fact that the two were so alike although the other one was already grown-up and has straight hair. He also hoped that they would be able to smooth things out between them as he had with his family.

◈◈◈

Because it was almost midnight, there were only two passengers on the bus when they had climbed in. And yet, the mother and daughter settled themselves on the back row.

"I feel terrible for being so harsh on you all this time," her mother began to say. "After your father died, you were still young back then, so I have to do everything myself. I thought that giving you the basic needs and the best education would be enough, but I guess I have forgotten that a child also needs other things –"

She glanced at her daughter with her eyes becoming misty "– like mother's love."

Then she heaved out a long sigh as she faced forward. She said further, "I have been taking out my stress and pressure on you. I thought that I'm failing as a parent since I don't know what you're thinking or feeling."

Rinka's eyebrows drew together. "I'm sorry for not telling you anything," she said in a weak voice.

Her mother turned back towards her. "I'm sorry, too. After talking to your _sensei_ , I realized all of the wrongs that I have done to you." She, then, half-smiled while her gaze on her daughter softened.

"He told me that you are a reliable student and the mistakes and achievements that you shared with your class have made you grow. That's why –" she gave her daughter a light pat on her shoulder "– despite what I have said, I'm saying now that I'm proud of you and I know your father will be too."

With this, the corners of Rinka's mouth turned up. It was pleasant to hear her family say that they were proud of her. Even so, her smile soon faltered and for the first time, grief was shown on her face.

"After all this time, I still miss him."

Her mother shared her look as she caressed her head. "Me too," she replied softly.

When he had arrived at the door, the first thing that his mother said was, "Why didn't you tell me that you have such a pretty girlfriend?"

While changing to his indoor slippers, he clarified again, "She's not my girlfriend." In contrast to his words, Hayami was, in fact, his closest female friend, and, technically, they had gone out on 'dates' twice already.

His mother pouted with a frown. She could smell that there was something special going on between her son and the orange-haired girl. As a mother, she has to find out what it was as she wanted to get along with him.

"If a girl comes to your home in the middle of the night when she's in trouble, she is not just a classmate," she interjected.

"Please don't make such baseless assumptions," he said as he made his way to the living room.

She followed behind him while faking a sob. "Oh come on, son. I just want to know you better."

He squatted down the floor between the coffee table and the sofa, his notebook and pen splayed out before him. "I still have to do my homework, Mom," he deadpanned.

A smile floated over his mother's lips as she thought – _Dodging the topic now, eh._ "Okay. I'll surrender –" then a sly look flashed on her features "– for now."

She began to climb the stairs when she turned over her shoulder and stole a glance at his back. "If she officially becomes your girlfriend, please properly introduce her to me next time, okay?" she added before tittering her way up.

He sighed in exasperation. It was disconcerting how everyone – Class 3-E, their teachers, and now his family – were meddling in his relationship with _her_.

Before he could resume his homework, his phone vibrated and glowed simultaneously. He picked it up and read Hayami's message, which contained a question that is, for him, odd. After sending his reply without ado, another message popped on his screen:

> _Don't bring your bento tomorrow. Got it?_

Now he was immensely curious about her intentions. It sounded like... _No, that can't be it._

He typed in his answer – _O.K._

◈◈◈

Upon opening the door of their home, her mother turned to her and asked, "Do you like _him_?"

Rinka halted. She knew who her mother was referring to and, surprisingly, was dumbfounded at the direct question. She bit on her lip, trying to fight off the blush on her cheeks.

"It is not like that," she floundered.

 _'She likes him huh?'_ Her mother thought, figuring out the hidden meaning behind her daughter's ' _tsundere_ -like' words.

"I see. If you start dating, I want you to bring him here, okay?"

Taking off her shoes, Rinka whipped her head in her mother's direction. "There's nothing going on between us," she pressed.

Her mother snaked her arms across her chest, unconvinced and yet amused to see her daughter yielding an abashed look because of a certain 'emo' male classmate.

Rinka couldn't believe that even her mother has started probing her relationship with _him_. "I'm going to my room," she said, to quickly escape, before making haste to the staircase.

She closed the door behind her to her bedroom and went to her desk. After slumping down the chair, she let out a sigh. Just by merely talking to _him_ had helped resolve her turmoil. She wondered... since when did she begin to rely on him?

Was it during the summer festival when he caught wind of her aching foot? Or was it way back on the Okinawa Fukuma Palace Hotel when she had placed all her faith in him to immobilize their enemy? Or after she got her first semester midterm tests and she approached him for comfort?

Fully aware that what she did was rude – going to somebody's house unannounced – her mind scrambled for something that she could at least do to repay him.

She fished out her phone from her side pocket and, then, sent him a message: _What is your favorite food?_

> **𝙲𝚑𝚒𝚋𝚊:** Hard-boiled eggs

A smile crossed her face as she typed on her phone eagerly and pressed the send button. Then she clutched her phone to her chest. It was worth a shot. 

* * *

## 7.3

【 **𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙰𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚜𝚝'𝚜 𝙲𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚢** 】

⋆★⋆

The next day, Chiba was setting up targets on the training grounds early in the morning when Hayami arrived carrying something in her hand.

"What's that?" he pointed out.

She glanced down at the bento box and, then, looked back at him. "A bento as thanks for last night," she said before handing it to him.

A smile hovered on the edge of his lips as his gaze fell on the blue box in front of him. So this way why she asked him his favorite food last night and why she had told him to not bring a lunch today.

"Thank you," he said, taking it from her. He was sure that he was going to enjoy every bite later.

Then, with a stern expression, she yanked out her pistol from the holster on her waist before shifting its barrel. "Now let's get down to work," she declared upon raising the gun beside her head.

After setting down the bento, Chiba picked up the sniper rifle from the ground and said, "Roger that."

◈◈◈

Ever since Sugaya had drawn Chiba's portrait for his birthday, he had become conflicted as to what the sniper's eyes looked like. Inclined to figure out the truth, he would sketch out his guesses, showing them to the subject for his affirmation to no avail.

This time, he would get it right. So when the sniper pair had come in through the door from their morning practice, he gave his 32nd drawing attempt one last look.

"Chiba, come check this out!" he called out from his seat as he peered over his purple-haired seatmate named Manami Okuda.

After approaching Sugaya's seat, Chiba picked up the paper from his hand. "Nice try, but that's not it," he said, putting it down on the desk.

The silver-haired artist frowned. "Come on, man," he whined. "I've already explored all the possibilities and yet I still didn't get it right? You must be messing with me."

Chiba broke into a chuckle. "Why would I do that?"

"You're still doing that, Sugaya?" Nakamura had walked towards them as a roguish grin split across her face. "That looks fun. Why don't I give you a hand?" she said.

Chiba was made to sit down on his seat before Nakamura started providing descriptions to Sugaya, who intently drew them on a small rectangular piece of paper. Upon finishing it, Nakamura placed his work in front of Chiba's face, exactly where his eyes would be.

The two stifled their laughter as they gawped at Chiba having a pair of 'fake' depicted eyes. "You look so cute, Chiba-kun," said Nakamura.

Chiba plucked the drawing from her clutch to take a look – sparkly eyes with long thick eyelashes.

' _Just what the hell they are doing,'_ he thought.

"Okay, next!" Nakamura yelled, tossing the paper away.

While Nakamura was laying out her next set of adjectives, some of their spectating classmates were also enticed to join in on the charade. With this, they bombarded Sugaya with ridiculous ideas with only a decent few giving it a serious thought.

> FUWA: What if his eyes look like Doraemon's?
> 
> KURAHASHI: Suga-chan, draw Karasuma-sensei's eyes!
> 
> KIMURA: Kurahashi-san, you know we're trying to draw Chiba's eyes...
> 
> HAZAMA: How about making it look scary, filled with loom and despair? I bet that's why he would try to hide them, right?
> 
> OKAJIMA: Oy Sugaya, draw two black dots. Yeah, like that.... BWAHAHAHA! Chiba now looks like Korosensei!
> 
> KANZAKI: Are you trying to guess Chiba-kun's eyes? May I suggest doing it like this?
> 
> KAYANO: Whoa! Now he looks like that character from _Street Fighter_!

Since everybody was having fun, Chiba has allowed them to indulge in their shenanigans even if they were only messing around. The original purpose of trying to guess his eyes correctly had already turned into null.

Amidst the figures blocking his sight, his gaze still searched for _her_ , who was watching from her seat while sharing laughs and side comments with the others. When her eyes had met his, soft smiles carved on both of their faces.

Standing behind Chiba was Karma. Having seen the two snipers looking at each other, the red head flashed on a smirk with a ploy in mind. "Hayami-san, can you come over here?" he asked.

Without a second thought, she made her way towards them as Karma began drawing something. Everyone's gazes went back-and-forth the two until Hayami was already in front of Chiba.

Karma aligned on Chiba's face a drawing of two heart-shaped eyes with the words 'I love Hayami' inside a thought balloon. This made the girls squeal and the boys, excluding Okajima, erupt into hoots of delight.

With her usual poker face on, Hayami cracked her knuckles. "Karma, let me punch you right now," she stated in a tight tone.

"Why did you suddenly become –" Chiba removed the paper from his face "– so noisy?" Upon seeing the cause of the uproar, he pressed his lips together.

He got up and pulled out his air handgun with a menacing aura. "Hayami, I'll hold that bastard for you," he said in a gruff manner before handing her the weapon. "You barrage him with bullets until that smile disappears from his face."

Even though the pellet ammo was harmless to humans, it does not mean that it could not cause a slight pain when it hit your skin. If you are showered with a hundred of those, it will surely hurt.

The rising bloodlust of the class' sniping specialists made the Karma Akabane took steps backward. Raising both hands in surrender, he said, "Hey, I was just kidding. No need to take it seriously. Don't worry; you have the support of the whole class for your romance."

That did not stop the two. In fact, his words have only worsened their mood.

When Chiba had broken into a dash, Karma made his escape in one swift move through the window.

◈◈◈

Because Korosensei would be going to Egypt to visit the pyramids, the top snipers have been spending their after-school in an unused classroom to study and do their homework together without an octopus teacher observing them behind the scenes.

"By the way," Chiba rummaged in his bag and took out the bento box that Hayami had given this morning, "Here. Thank you for the food. It was delicious."

A faint blush appeared on her cheeks. "I'm glad."

Then they resumed their homework. Half an hour later, Hayami's pen stopped moving. She lifted her gaze at him, his bangs hanging over his face as he sat across her on the two desks they had put together.

Come to think of it, he never explained why he wore his bangs to cover his eyes. Did it not hinder his sight at all? How come he could still make those perfect shots in a long-distance despite that fringe of hair obstructing his field of vision?

"You seem distracted," Chiba said as his head turned up. "Is there something wrong?"

She put her pen down before overlapping her hands on top of her notebook. She, then, asked, "How come you cover your eyes?" She batted an eyelid. "Doesn't it get in your way?"

"Are you also curious about what my eyes look like?" he asked, head a bit slanted to one side.

It was not just Sugaya and some of his classmates; even Korosensei and Irina had made inquiries on his well-hidden eyes. There had been occasions when Korosensei would come up with ways of revealing them. And like his classmates' guesses, the yellow octopus' efforts had been all futile.

"That's not it. It doesn't matter what they are like. Chiba is Chiba. I'm only curious about the reason," she explained.

He stood up, chair dragging across the floor, and leaned forward within an arm's length to her. "See for yourself," he said.

She raised her arm no sooner than retracting it right away. "Are you sure?"

He nodded.

Her hand edged to his bangs slowly until it lifted them, bringing to light a pair of maroon orbs. The intensity of his stare blinded her, her head slightly jerking away, and caused a loud thump in her chest. She was then reminded of the time when Fujiwara had withdrawn away after seeing these same eyes.

"My eyes are too strong that it intimidates others," he said as he sat back down with his bangs back on his forehead. "That is why I cover them."

_This is it. She will probably be scared of me from now on. She won't be looking at me the same way._

Having regained her composure, Hayami took her pen in her clutch. "I get why people would be uncomfortable. But –" she paused as she fixed her gaze on him with a subtle, gentle smile on her face "– I still think your eyes are _pretty_." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YES, their ship is now more or less known to the whole class thanks to Karma! Poor Okajima though. Well, he'll get over it eventually.
> 
> That's all that I can say since I'm tired now due to a lack of sleep. It's thanks to my college friends who invited me to play online with them last night until 1:30 am! No wonder I'm so done for today especially when I already made it a habit to sleep earlier than 11 pm as part of my well-balanced lifestyle.


	10. 【8】ℕ𝕆𝕋𝕆ℝ𝕀𝕆𝕌𝕊 ℕ𝕆𝕍𝔼𝕄𝔹𝔼ℝ

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Four... more... to ... go.
> 
> I'm now determined to finish this story this September. I'm so excited to write out the ending. LOL. I will need a lot of motivation and more coffee then.

## ▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢

## 8.1

【 **𝙲𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚛 𝚃𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚋𝚕𝚎** 】

⋆★⋆

Ever since Korosensei had left to the faculty lounge for their career consultation, Hayami has been staring at her career goals form, which was yet to be filled up. Although it had been invading her mind for the past month, she was still having trouble figuring out what she wanted to do in the future.

Amidst the sea of dreams and career paths that her classmates have been spouting, a familiar figure loomed over her beside her seat.

"What did you write?"

Upon hearing Chiba's question, her hand unconsciously shielded her career goals form before looking up at him. "Still nothing," she replied followed by a sigh as her gaze reverted to her form.

"Korosensei can help with that," he said confidently although he felt useless himself. Even if he was itching to, he didn't know how he could help her. He was not like their octopus teacher or some of their classmates who always knew the right words to say.

With her hands coiling into fists across the paper, she said, "I don't even have a clue on what I want."

"You don't have to rush," he said before raising his head towards their blue-haired classmate, who was brooding over his own form. "Even Nagisa hasn't found out his career goal yet."

When Okajima had come back in the room from his career consultation, Isogai stood up and turned around to face the whole class. "Okajima is already done. Who wants to go next?" he proclaimed.

Hayami rose on her feet as she raised her hand. "I'll go," she uttered.

Then she glanced at Chiba and began to tell him, "Although I may not know yet the career path that I am going to take –" she took out her pistol with a determined expression "– I will grab this chance to hit our target."

Seeing her new resolve brought his mind to ease. With this, he nodded in reply.

◈◈◈

"I see. So you are planning to go to a public high school near your house," Korosensei said after reading her career goals form. "This school provides high-quality education, particularly on international studies. Good choice, Hayami-san. Under Irina-sensei's English classes, you'll have no problem getting here."

When he had placed her form on the desk, he rested his tentacle arms on his lap. "I understand that you have not decided on your goal yet, but let me assure you that with your top-grade execution and skills, any job will truly be suitable for you," he said just as Hayami engaged into a surprise sniping attack to which he dodged in ease.

"It is indeed practical to aim for good grades and a good school for now, so that when you finally reach the moment when you find what you want, it will be a breeze for you to furnish your blade for that career," he added.

Hayami shifted to her second attempt by wielding two guns. "You said that anything will be fine for me. That's why I think I should focus on killing you for now, while of course polishing my second blade," she said.

The yellow octopus let out his brazen chortle, the record book on his one tentacle deflecting the incoming pellets while using his superhuman reflexes to evade the second gun's attacks. "Well said, Hayami-san. If you want, we can discuss your options later after class for you to have an idea in the future."

"Sure, Korosensei," she replied with a nod.

How lucky she was to have a teacher like him. It was a shame though that she could not make the kill today.

◈◈◈

"Thank you for waiting."

After stepping out of the building, she found Chiba alone outside, leaning on the wall, with shades of orange coating his figure.

While Hayami had been having her career discussion with Korosensei, he used the time to practice shooting on his own. He admitted that it felt lonely to not have anyone to compete with or to have anyone to praise you for your direct hits.

When she had begun walking beside him, he asked her, "How was it?"

"As expected, there is a lot to choose from but I'm considering Business Administration. It has a high demand and I think it is something that I can imagine myself doing."

"That's a good choice."

She wheeled her head towards him. "You're aiming for Tokyo Tech, right? That's a high hurdle to cross." Then she added confidently, "Well if it's you, I'm sure that you can do it."

He smiled. "Thanks. Since this school is affiliated with Tokyo Institute, it will be easier for me to get into that university, which is well-known for the Architecture course."

"Impressive. You have thought about your future that much."

Scratching his cheek, he said sheepishly, "I got some help from my father in deciding on a school."

They continued to walk under the trees, their surroundings getting darker as the sun set down when she became glum with her eyes downcast on the ground. "As Korosensei has said, we will be leading on our separate paths after we graduate," she stated.

His jaw tightened. Although the time they had spent together was precious and fun, they would have to face the fact that good things come to an end – even their tranquil walks in the mountain.

Especially the assassination.

Hayami has just parted with Chiba at the school's main gate when she stopped short. Right before her was Fujiwara leaning on the wall as if waiting for someone. He met her gaze with an unreadable expression and, then, his feet started to move towards her.

"Hayami, can we talk?"

* * *

## 8.2

【 **𝚂𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚕 𝙵𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚊𝚕 𝙰𝚙𝚘𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚒𝚎𝚜** 】

⋆★⋆

Normally, the laborious task of gathering ingredients and the tedious preparations for the menu, cooking, advertising, and customer service would drive the students to both physical and mental exhaustion. Still, doing all of those together with all their quirkiness and jokes made every single task enjoyable for them.

On the first day, twelve students that were divided into two groups were tasked to collect raw ingredients within the mountain. One of which was Hayami's group posted by the river to hunt fish and to gather herbs that could be found there.

"Hayami, I can see your underwear from here!" Okajima blurted excitedly as blood gushed out from his nose.

Kataoka hit him before riddling him with a lecture on how to respect a girl.

Brushing the semi-bald pervert off, Hayami aimed the crossbow at a swimming fish with one knee on a boulder. She released a long breath just as she pulled the trigger.

"Hit!" she exclaimed, prompting Okajima to jump in the running water.

He grabbed the kill and hoicked it up to examine it. "Wow! What a clean shot!"

While lowering her weapon, she said, "At that distance, that was nothing." Then she raised it again upon seeing another moving prey.

Itona Horibe and Taisei Yoshida had worked together in making the two crossbows. The other one was being used by Chiba, who was assigned with the group in charge of harvesting fruits and spices and hunting meat in the forest.

After Hayami's fourth kill, Okajima came in again to put the fish into the bucket when its tail started fluttering rapidly. Because of that, his grip loosened, which caused the fish to slip back into the water.

"The fish!" he yelled as he pushed his knees against the current. "Hey, come back here!"

It turned out Hayami had missed its vital spot considering she did the shot beyond her range. But that's not all. It was also due to the apology that Fujiwara has made two weeks ago, distracting her mind especially during times when she needed to focus such as this one.

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

**_Afterward, they went to the nearby park and found a bench. Hayami sat down at a distance from him. "What do you want to talk about?" she, then, asked coldly._ **

**_With eyes glued to the ground, he said, "I want to apologize to you. After seeing your class win battles against Class A when you're not supposed to, it made me realize my wrongdoings. I hurt you and even ruined our friendship. It's my fault why you failed back then." He gritted his teeth as he clenched his fists. "That's why I want to make amends." He glanced up at her and, then, continued, "Will you forgive me, Hayami?"_ **

**_The troubled expression that crossed her face was one that she had worn when she received her failing grades. Seeing it was a slap on his face that after all this time he still liked her and even wanted to be with her again just like before._ **

**_But that was all pointless now. Amid the darkness, she was not alone in her class this time. She has found friends and teachers that she could trust and share her burden with._ **

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

To catch up with the fleeing fish, she hopped off the boulder when a branch scraped her lower arm. She winced just as her feet landed on a rock. Biting through the pain, she set her sights on her target before releasing the arrow.

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

**_"Will you forgive me, Hayami?"_ **

**_She needed more time to think. Since this was sudden, her mind and emotions were in haywire. That's why, without looking at him, all she could do was stand up and utter "I need more time" before walking away._ **

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛

Later before lunch, they were able to catch fifteen fishes and two baskets of herbs. With this, their group returned to the top and found that the other group was already there.

Hayami hid her right arm behind her back before making her way towards Chiba, who was stretching his shoulders from the tiring shooting.

"How did it go in your end?" she asked him.

"We gathered a lot. I think it's going to last us the whole day," he said. "How about you?"

"Same here. Korosensei was right. This mountain has a lot of resources that we can use," she replied while they were heading back inside the building.

"I was told that the people from the nursery came as well as the delinquents who kidnapped Kanzaki and Kayano on the school trip." Then his gaze drifted towards her back when he saw a blotch of red on her sleeve.

He swerved behind her to take a closer look. "You're hurt!" he exclaimed.

In turn, she faced him as her left hand gripped her wounded arm. To think that it would still bleed after having it wrapped with her handkerchief and covering it with her sleeves.

"It's just a scratch from a branch earlier. It's no big deal," she explained flatly.

"That's because you didn't wear your super gym clothes," he scolded, grabbing her left arm. "We should treat that first."

The super gym clothes that Karasuma had given to them as their reward could protect them from many types of injury including getting a small wound. But because her mind was preoccupied with Fujiwara, it had slipped her mind to change into them. She had only managed to put on her combat shoes right before going into the mountain.

As she was being pulled back inside, she said, "I can treat it myself", since she knew that he has other things to do.

He clenched his jaw. "No."

She could give in to his persistence to quickly end their 'bicker', but there was something about him that has been bugging her.

Lately, she would catch him looking at her several times more than the normal and pursing his lips as if he wanted to say something. Not only that, he would try to help her even in the tiniest stuff like bringing ammo from the shed and submitting everyone's assignments to the faculty lounge.

Although, in the past, he never did those since he perfectly knew that she could handle them by herself.

There was also this one time when he had to plead to carry her school bag for her when they were going down to the school gate. When she had refused, he offered to walk her to the bus stop instead, which left her no choice but to accept his first appeal. It had ended up with Karma teasing them for being a 'sweet typical couple' when they were seen on the way.

"Why are you so worked up about this?" she asked calmly, the prickling pain on her left arm forgotten.

He halted on his tracks before spinning on his heel towards her. His hand, then, slammed on the wooden wall behind her, trapping her under his height. "It's because –" he began to say in a gravelly tone "– you are troubled about something. It makes me frustrated to do nothing but watch."

_I understand though. I know that you're going through something that you think you should handle by yourself._

When he had tilted his head closer, she caught a glimpse of his anguished eyes, which made all of her attention fixate on them. His voice softened as he said, "That' why, just for this –" he glanced at her red-stained arm "– let me worry about it."

She was a fool. Of course, he would see through her struggles and become anxious. She would be too if it were him.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I'm okay now."

_Because of you, I now know what to do._

With a contented nod, he released his hand from the wall, returning their distance. "I'll get the first aid kit."

She hummed in reply.

After turning his back on her, his face started to heat up as he strode his way inside. He thought, ' _Crap. Why the hell did I do that?'_

Meanwhile, a sigh escaped her lips right after he went inside. Touching her chest where her heart was pounding rapidly, she thought she was going to faint by then.

◈◈◈

After finishing up for today's school festival, Hayami went straight to the main building. She remained invisible for the past hour as she stood by the entrance. Entering her field of vision a few minutes later was a spindly figure, with a mop of caramel hair, exiting the premises.

While chatting with his peers, Fujiwara stopped short upon seeing her walking in his direction. He told them to go ahead before meeting her in the middle.

"Hayami, why are you here?" he asked. Had she been waiting for him?

"I want to say thank you, Fujiwara, for your apology and everything else," she began as her mouth quirked up. "If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have met everyone in Class E. And, I wasn't able to thank you for your feelings for me at that time. I realized now that I had been somewhat cold to you. For that, I'm sorry."

His face softened as he smiled. "It's okay. I'm just happy that you're doing well now."

"No. This time, I want to do it right." Bowing her upper body slightly, she said, "Thank you, Fujiwara. I'm sorry I couldn't return your feelings."

Although it was monotonous, he could sense the sincerity beneath her words unlike before. He embarrassingly looked away as he put his hand on his hips with his other hand rubbing the back of his head. "Uhh... you didn't have to do that. That was already a while ago," he mumbled.

Then he shifted his head back to her as a beam flashed on his face. "Well, thank you for that!"

She managed a small smile. "It was indeed weird to say that after all this time but it still felt good," she said.

Placing both hands on his waist, he proclaimed, "You know, I am planning to join the Light Music Club in high school."

"That's nice. I wish you luck."

"Thanks. I'll be better than your bassist boyfriend."

Her eyebrows furrowed. "Bassist?"

"Remember when we watched the Light Music Club at the school festival in our first year? He was the bassist player in the band."

"So that was him." Her mind crawled back to that time when she saw _him_ on the stage, his bangs up while playing the bass guitar. She thought that that person seemed cool although she could not see his face back then because of the colorful lights flashing everywhere and the swirling smoke blocking the band members' silhouettes.

Fujiwara cocked his one eyebrow bemusedly. "How come you didn't recognize that was your boyfriend?"

She crossed her arms across her chest and said, "He is not my boyfriend."

"Huh." A smirk coursed through his mouth. "But do you like him?" he asked in a teasing manner.

Her arms fell to her sides. Knowing what he had meant, firmly and coolly, she replied, "I do."

◈◈◈

Since the Class 3-E's restaurant became jammed with customers on the second day, Chiba and Hayami were asked to help in serving the tables. Albeit not good at it, they were able to manage through Yada and Isogai's brief pointers.

"Three orders from Table 4 and five from Table 5," said Hayami as she handed the order slip to Yuzuki Fuwa.

Upon picking up a tray of dishes to be served, Chiba passed by her. They greeted each other with a subtle nod before focusing back on their work. Then her face lit up when her eyes had caught sight of Fujiwara, together with a group, ambling towards a recent vacant table.

"Hayami, can you go take their order?" Maehara asked, his thumb pointing at Fujiwara's table.

With a nod, she took out her notepad and made her way there when the caramel-haired boy became ecstatic at her arrival. "Can I have your orders?" she asked as her eyes roamed over his companions, who were looking at her with friendly gazes.

Lately, the perception of the students in the main building on Class 3-E has been changing gradually in a positive way.

After receiving their orders, Hayami wheeled back to the kitchen as Fujiwara's smile slipped. It was certainly nice to see her working hard as she usually did.

"Dude, she looks pretty."

He turned back towards his male companions who began speaking about Hayami.

"Yeah. Although she seemed so serious at first."

"Forget it. She already has _someone,_ " Fujiwara chimed in before looking over his shoulder to see the black-haired bassist approaching Hayami, who was carrying two trays for different tables. When her 'boyfriend' had offered to serve one of the trays for her, the corners of her mouth turned up as she enunciated her thanks.

 _'Huh. So she can smile like that,'_ Fujiwara thought.

From the sidelines, a certain blonde girl has been watching the caramel-haired guest gape with a yearning expression at the two snipers. When Hayami had gone to serve the orders of Fujiwara and his company, Nakamura grinned before scooting over towards Chiba.

"Shouldn't you be pulling her away from that guy right now?" she whispered, as both of them ogled at Hayami interacting with Hideo while serving the table.

Placing his hands on his hips, Chiba said, "Even so, I have no right to do that."

Nakamura's mouth fell open. _Did he just impliedly admit that he is jealous?_ Before she could react further, Chiba was already on his way to the kitchen. 

* * *

## 8.3

【 **𝙲𝚊𝚝 𝙴𝚊𝚛𝚜 𝙿𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚜𝚑𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝** 】

⋆★⋆

The second-semester finals would be a week from now. In order to rebound from their midterms, Karma has initiated to conduct tutoring lessons to his fellow classmates on subjects that they were weak at – especially in Math.

Since he had been way ahead of everyone else during summer, he was able to come up second in their batch despite being prohibited to study before the midterm tests. This made him the perfect candidate to support the whole class in getting into the top 50.

Because of that, both Chiba and Hayami believed that seeking his help would be the right thing to do. Although Chiba was good in Math, he still wanted to learn from someone who had beaten Gakushuu Asano, the top student in school, in that field.

Standing by the blackboard was Karma with seven of his classmates – Nagisa, Kayano, Tomohito Sugino, Kanzaki, Okuda, Chiba, and Hayami –sitting on the front row. On one hand, Korosensei was having his cram-study sessions outside for the rest of the class.

"Now that I have taught you the concepts, I will give you fifteen problems to answer. You will be punished if you get at least five wrong," said Karma.

The red head's proclamation made Sugino uneasy. With this, he raised his hand. "Erm... what is the punishment?" he asked.

Karma broke into a sneer as he pulled out a headwear that has cat ears. "You will put this on for the rest of the day and whenever somebody calls you out, you have to respond with 'meow' with your hands like this." He lifted both fists to his chest – just like a cat.

Every single one of them felt like backing out now. But since they all badly wanted to make it to the top 50, they knew that they would have to endure the sadist's shenanigans.

Afterward, Karma checked their answers. Then he handed the cat ears to Nagisa, Sugino, and Hayami. Chiba got the highest score of 13 out of 15, while Sugino was the lowest with only five correct.

"Your problems are just too complicated," Sugino whined. "There is no way that we could get them all correct."

With a shrug, Karma retorted, "That was your fault. If you paid attention to me earlier, maybe you would have gotten a better score."

This silenced the baseball-lover. What the red head has said was true. While Karma was teaching them, Sugino was instead ogling at his seatmate, Kanzaki. He could not help it though. She just looked too beautiful listening as she took down notes.

"This is stupid," said Hayami before placing the cat ears on the desk. "I'm not going to wear this."

Karma's golden orbs narrowed. "If you won't, then, you will be on class duty for the whole week instead," he warned.

It was either the short-term humiliation or less time to study after school.

Heaving out a sigh, her hand reached for the accessory. Her brittle gaze remained on the leering red-head as she laid it atop her head.

The smile on Karma's face widened, while everyone stared in astonishment. Chiba cleared his throat whilst turning away from the 'adorable sight'.

"Now, was that so hard?" Karma mocked.

Ever since then, Okajima would call Hayami's name endlessly to which she would answer with a 'meow' and a cat-pose. Upon seeing it the first time, blood spilled out from his nose as he exclaimed, "That's so cute!"

Nakamura, of course, seized this opportunity by taking pictures and a video of Hayami including Nagisa and Sugino, who were beet-red from embarrassment by now. Nagisa was even forced to wear Nakamura's skirt and other costumes that had been set aside for this sort of occasion, which resulted in another cross-dressing photoshoot.

Then, when Chiba had called out Hayami's name, several curious gazes in the room flickered in their direction. After facing him, Hayami performed the cat thing and became paralyzed upon seeing her sniping partner.

Much to everyone's disappointment, Chiba casually returned her notebook that he had borrowed before careening back to his seat. No ounce of emotion could be found on any part of his body although his mind has been screaming non-stop how 'cute' she looked in those cat ears.

◈◈◈

Hayami was having enough of the unwanted attention, which was caused by the cat ears adorning her head. And so, she sneaked out of the classroom to the forest when lunch period had arrived.

She would rather eat alone in nature rather than spend another hour being harassed by a certain semi-bald pervert and attracting looks from everyone more so when they were less occupied on a break.

She began munching on her bento when she heard the crunching of leaves and twigs beneath heavy and careful footsteps. Her head whipped to the side where the noise was coming from. There stood an upstanding toned figure with a black fringe covering the upper half of his face.

"How did you find me here?" she asked him.

He lifted his phone that was showing a grid map of the mountain with a green blip pinpointing her location. It was an application that Ritsu has provided for the class.

As he hunched down beside her, she threw him another question. "Why did you come here?"

"To keep you company."

"I don't need one," she stated before resuming her lunch.

After opening his bento, he started eating as well, knowing too well she appreciated his coming here with her not telling him to leave. When he had finished, a thought popped into his mind.

"I never pegged you to be wearing cat ears," he said a bit teasingly.

"S-Shut up. I just don't want to miss my studying time," she stuttered as a hint of pink flushed her cheeks.

"I would've helped you in the class duty."

Her eyebrows scrunched further. "I won't let you do that. You also need to study," she rebuked.

This didn't make him falter. "We could have more study groups together," he responded firmly.

Her lips formed into a thin line as she packed up her bento. Then, standing on her feet, she said "Do what you want" before turning around, hiding the smile on her face. 

◈◈◈

**_\------------------------------------_**  
𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐍𝐚𝐦𝐞:The 'END' AssClass

𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬:  
Class 3-E students ONLY

𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞:6:34 PM  
 ** _\------------------------------------_**

**BLONDE SADIST** [Nakamura]  
 _*sends photos of Hayami, Sugino, and Nagisa wearing cat ears*_

_*sends videos of the three meowing with the cat pose*  
_

**BLONDE SADIST** [Nakamura]  
YOU'RE WELCOME >:)

**RED SADIST** [Karma]  
Nakamura, you forgot something.

_*sends photos of Nagisa crossdressing with cat ears*_

**HENTAI IDIOT** [Okajima]  
Hayami as a cat... Thank the heavens!!!

**GENDER** [Nagisa]  
Karma-kun, why did you send it?!?!?!

**RED SADIST** [Karma]  
Why not~

**BASEBALL4LIFE** [Sugino]  
Noooo!!!! This is shameful...

**CASANNOVA JERK** [Maehara]  
Hayami looks cute <3

**TANK LORD** [Itona]  
True. She's got the right specs. Definitely up to my standards.

**BEETLE MOE** [Kurahash]  
Haya-chan is so KAWAI!!! Nagisa-chan is also adorable teehee ^_^ V

**GENDER** [Nagisa]  
Kurahashi-san... -_-

**TANK LORD** [Itona]  
He doesn't look bad either.

**BLONDE SADIST** [Nakamura]  
It's not too late to change, Nagisa-chan ;)

**RED SADIST** [Karma]  
We can still book a flight to Thailand this weekend. It's on sale right now. You can still make it before the test. 

**GENDER** [Nagisa]  
Can you guys please stop it?

_Tank Lord_ changed _Pudding~_ 's nickname to _Forever Flat_.

**FOREVER FLAT** [Kayano]  
What the hell, Itona?!

_Forever Flat_ changed _Tank Lord_ 's nickname to _WallTerminator_

**HENTAI IDIOT** [Okajima]  
Can we just appreciate Hayami though? I'm so happy that I can save her picture to my collection! 

**CHEST** [Yada]  
You're so disgusting.

**TSUN TSUN** [Hayami]  
Rio, delete my photo and video this instant. Okajima, don't you dare save my photo.

_WallTerminator_ changed _Forever Flat_ 's nickname to _CupZero._

**HENTAI IDIOT** [Okajima]  
Oops... the deed's done. Sorry, Hayami.

_CupZero_ changed _WallTerminator_ 's nickname to _SubtlyPervert._

**BLONDE SADIST** [Nakamura]  
Sorry, Hayami. It's already online. I can't take it down. :P

_SubtlyPervert_ changed _CupZero_ 's nickname to _No Butt & __Breasts_ _._

**SUPERMODEL** [Kataoka]

Itona and Kayano-san! Please stop changing your nicknames. It causes a nuisance to everyone from the nonstop notifications.

_Supermodel_ changed _No Butt & Breasts_'s nickname to _Pudding~._

_Supermodel_ changed _SubtlyPervert_ 's nickname to _Wall Terminator._

**PUDDING~** [Kayano]  
Sorry, Kataoka-san. Also, that's not Itona's original nickname.

**SUPERMODEL** [Kataoka]  
It isn't? Oh sorry. I'll change it back right away.

**WALL TERMINATOR** [Itona]  
No need. I'm okay with this.

**SUPERMODEL** [Kataoka]  
If you say so.

Btw, Itona. You shouldn't make comments on a girl's body. It's rude and offensive.

**WALL TERMINATOR** [Itona]  
I can't help it. Somehow, Nagisa is more of a girl than Kayano.

**PUDDING~** [Kayano]  
HEY

**SUPERMODEL** [Kataoka]  
Itona, what did I just say?

**IKEMEN** [Isogai]  
Now, we still have a mock test tomorrow. We should be studying right now.

**SUPERMODEL** [Kataoka]  
I'm sorry, Isogai-kun. 

**PUDDING~** [Kayano]  
Hai, class rep!

**WALL TERMINATOR** [Itona]  
Then off I go.

**IKEMEN** [Isogai]  
Don't sweat it, Kataoka. You've done nothing wrong

◈◈◈

**_\------------------------------------_**  
𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐍𝐚𝐦𝐞:The 'END' AssClass

𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬:  
Class 3-E students ONLY

𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞:11:03 PM  
 ** _\------------------------------------_**

**HENTAI IDIOT** [Okajima]  
OH NO! HAYAMI'S PICTURE AND VIDEO DISAPPEARED FROM MY PHONE

I also can't find them here in the chatroom.

**BLONDE SADIST** [Nakamura]  
You're right. I can't find them on my phone too, but Sugino and Nagisa's are still here.

**HENTAI IDIOT** [Okajima]  
WHAT HAPPENED

**MUSHROOM DIRECTOR** [Mimura]  
Must be a hack.

**BLONDE SADIST** [Nakamura]  
Ritsu, can you explain?

**RITSU**  
Yes, I deleted the picture and videos of Hayami only.

**HENTAI IDIOT** [Okajima]  
What the hell?!

  
**BLONDE SADIST** [Nakamura]  
Uh, why?

**RITSU**  
Because Chiba-kun asked me to.

**HENTAI IDIOT** [Okajima]  
Chiba, whyyy. Let me have my fun TT_TT

**BLONDE SADIST** [Nakamura]  
Ooh~ someone's getting protective :-)

**HENTAI IDIOT** [Okajima]  
Just admit that you like Hayami, then, I'll stop bothering her. Maybe.

**BLONDE SADIST** [Nakamura]  
ADMIT IT!

**EMO BANGSSS** [Chiba]  
Go to sleep.

**HENTAI IDIOT** [Okajima]  
Come on, dude. Just confess!

**BLONDE SADIST** [Nakamura]  
T3T

**EMO BANGSSS** [Chiba]  
Bye.

◈◈◈

The next morning, Hayami thanked Chiba for what he did. She did not bring up the last part of the chat much to his relief. What she did not know though was he had saved her photo with the cat ears on in his phone.

He pondered _\- Should I tell her?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have come to like my OC, Hideo Fujiwara. It's not just because of his character development. Like Hayami and Chiba, he was straightforward except for the fact that whatever comes in his mind comes out of his mouth - to the point that he could be vulgar and rude.
> 
> If you noticed, he has a compatible personality with Hayami. They are both honest and direct to each other, and he could make Hayami talk without much effort. At the same time, he is an extrovert unlike her, which I think has made them more compatible.
> 
> Also, were you able to grasp both of their indirect confessions about their feelings towards the other?! Hayami's confession was more explicit though, she just didn't direct it to the person himself. Well, they are already more than halfway through the year, so might as well give development to their relationship.
> 
> Thank goodness for their height difference or else the kabedon scene wouldn't have worked. (It may be cliché but I've wanted to write one for a while)


	11. 【9】𝔻𝔼ℂ𝔼𝕄𝔹𝔼ℝ 𝔻𝔼ℂ𝕀𝕊𝕀𝕆ℕ

## ▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢

##  9.1

【 **𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚛𝚍 𝙳𝚊𝚝𝚎: 𝚆𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚘𝚠 𝚂𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐** 】

⋆★⋆

In the second semester finals, everyone in Class 3-E has made it to the top 50. Instead of transferring to the main campus, they preferred to stay, so that they could kill their teacher by March.

Even Korosensei has bested Chairman Asano's educational philosophy after overcoming the test given by the principal.

The two snipers, then, decided to have their third date to bask in this glory especially Chiba who got 9th place. Having wanted to know each other better, they went to the mall to explore each other's interests.

Hayami was the one to choose the first place to go. Upon entering the bookstore, she was lured instantly to the _Teen Fiction_ section with Chiba tagging along behind.

He picked up a book randomly from the shelf and skimmed over it. The title was ' _The Ten Loves of Mr. Nishino_ ' by Hiromi Kawakami. Then he asked, "Do you read romance?"

She nodded in reply as she pulled out a book – ' _I am A Cat_ ' by Natsume Soseki – as her mouth curved up. "I like the strong emotions that you can feel and the development of the main characters in romance stories. They make me feel alive," she explained after.

Although she preferred to not let her emotions show, it did not mean that she did not appreciate the mystery and complexity behind them – how it has been affecting anyone beyond reason and logic. Whenever she was in a dilemma on her feelings, she would sometimes consult the books as a reference.

But, lately, she had not relied on them that much anymore because of a specific someone, who was poring over a book beside her at the moment, the one whom she opened up to about her troubles and whose mere presence was enough to bring her comfort.

"Maybe I should read an English novel to help improve my vocabulary and grammar," said Chiba as he came across ' _Turtles All The Way Down'_ written by John Green.

Hayami closed the book in her hand and returned it to its place. She, then, walked out of the section before turning towards _Classics._

Chiba was trailing after her when she popped out from the shelf while holding a small book.

"I suggest you read this." She raised the book of Adeline Yen Mah, ' _Chinese Cinderella'._ "It's a classic and one of my favorites. I have a copy that I can lend you tomorrow in school."

"Can I see?" He extended his arm just as she handed it to him.

After reading the synopsis on the back, he hummed contentedly and returned it to her. "Seems interesting," he said.

They went to the music store next. While browsing through an array of CD albums, Chiba set his sights on an album of a Japanese band.

He took a closer look and blurted, "Cool. They have their new album."

Hayami walked up beside him. "Will you buy it?" she asked.

He shook his head. "I'd like to but I didn't bring enough money. I can buy this online later."

Afterward, he proceeded to another aisle with Hayami by his side since she has no particular interest in music. Instead, she took note of the music genres he liked (besides Hardcore Punk) and the bands or artists that he listened to.

"Do you want to listen too?" he asked as he pulled down his headset. When she had nodded, he passed it to her.

As soon as the song started, her eardrums burst from the volume and intensity, her heart inside her chest splitting open. She removed the headset with a drained expression before glancing at him.

"How do you manage to listen to this?"

Finding her reaction amusing, he picked another song. "Pay attention to the lyrics," he told her.

And so she did. Somehow, the explosive rhythm did not bother her anymore but she did not come to like it either. Focusing on the words of the song was like reading a book, which was a swirl of mixed emotions and thoughts. With her mouth slightly agape, she slid the headphones down around her neck.

When he had heard her say, "I get it now", a triumphant look crossed his face.

◈◈◈

Their stomachs began to grumble when noon had arrived. They selected a place to eat, which was, according to Ritsu, a popular place for young people.

On the way there, they ran into a surprising pair, who everyone knew got along well in class. But still, being together on a Sunday unless you were on a date has raised questions even from the stoic snipers.

Upon seeing them, Karma asked, "Oh, you two on a date?"

Chiba's gaze drifted towards the bespectacled girl squirming beside the red-head. Then he hummed in reply since there was no use hiding it from him.

After a momentarily pause, he asked back, "How about you two?"

Karma, per usual, maintained his cool. "Okuda-san and I are going to buy the things that she needs for her new experiment. Since it is already lunch, we decided to eat first," he explained as he pointed to the restaurant near them, where the sniper couple was planning to go.

"We are also going to eat there," said Hayami.

Okuda glanced at Hayami tentatively, then, back to the ground. Having seen her uneasiness from the corner of his eye, Karma asked for her, "Do you want to eat together then?"

Waving her hands frantically, Okuda said, "B-But we might disturb their..."

"We don't mind," Hayami chimed in. "We already got enough time together this morning. Right, Chiba?" She looked at him for confirmation to which he hummed with a quick nod.

True to Ritsu's suggestion, the place was fully packed with mostly diners about their age. Luckily, a group had just finished when they arrived, leaving a table for them.

When their orders had been delivered to their table, Hayami's eyes averted to the purple-haired girl across her. "Okuda-san, what are you going to make this time?" she asked.

"I'm trying to create a tranquilizing drug. Karma-kun said that we might need it in the future for our protection."

 _'I bet Karma has other motives for that other than protection,'_ both Chiba and Hayami thought.

"I first suggested a tranquilizer for Korosensei," Karma said, "but Okuda-san said that will be a challenge because of his complex body, so she will have to make one for humans as an initial step."

"Why don't you fuse the tranquilizer into bullets or darts?" Chiba suggested.

Karma's eyebrows perked up, fond of the idea. "I see. Like a tranquilizer dart gun."

"For Korosensei in the future, maybe put the drug inside the anti-sensei pellet for immediate effects inside his body," said Hayami as Chiba nodded in agreement.

While Okuda was writing their suggestions in her notepad, lips pursed in concentration, Karma was smiling with his eyes fixed on her.

The sight has made the couple sitting across them shudder. They shared a look when the same thought had crossed their minds.

> Hayami – _Does he?_
> 
> Chiba – _Seems like it._

They finished their meal with small talks that were mostly initiated by Karma. Typically, the two snipers gave short answers and remarks, while Okuda filled in just to further the conversation.

"Excuse me for a moment. I will go to the restroom," Okuda proclaimed as she started to rise on her feet.

"I will come with you," Hayami stated, pushing the chair behind her.

Okuda meekly bobbed her head – uncomfortable at the thought of being with Hayami alone – before going to the restroom with her. While walking beside the poker-faced sniper, she kept her hands clasped together and her eyes on the floor.

"Why do girls like to go to the restroom together? I wonder what they do there," Karma said as his gaze followed their shrinking figures.

With a shrug, Chiba uttered, "No idea either."

After exiting the cubicle, Hayami came upon Okuda, who was fidgeting with her clothes, by the sink. It looked like she had been waiting for her.

Hayami washed her hands and fixed her hair in front of the mirror while Okuda kept on glancing at her with a queasy expression. She turned to the braided girl.

"You look like you want to say something," she said flat-out.

"Erm..." Okuda's eyes darted away for a second. "I wanted to tell you that you look pretty in your outfit today but I think that you wouldn't like that."

With her face blank, Hayami asked, "Why wouldn't I?"

Okuda remained staring at the tiled floor. "W-Well, every time Okajima-kun praises you, you get annoyed," she replied.

"That's because he was being a pervert," Hayami stated.

"How about Chiba-kun? You had a different reaction when he praised you."

Hayami blinked in confusion especially at the mention of _his_ name. "What do you mean?"

"Karma-kun showed me the video of when you played truth or dare. You seemed happy with his compliments about you."

 _'Of course, he took a video,'_ Hayami thought begrudgingly.

Then she heaved out a sigh before replying casually, "That's because Chiba is _special_."

Okuda's purple orbs widened as her hands cupped her mouth. ' _Wow,'_ she thought. ' _Hayami-san is so brave.'_

"For you to say that so casually. No wonder you're so amazing, Hayami-san. Compared to me..."

With a sharp look, Hayami interrupted her, "That's not true." Then she clasped Okuda's shoulder. "You are admirable, Okuda. Your talent in chemicals and science makes you one hell of an assassin."

The truth serum that Okuda had concocted, which was proven to be effective, has brought a new light to the young chemist's abilities. She was indeed capable – _scary_ even – for Hayami.

Having listened to her statement has rendered Okuda flabbergasted. "T-Thank you for that, Hayami-san." She bowed, flattered to be commended by one of the geniuses in class.

When they had returned to the table, they found Karma and Chiba in the middle of playing tic-tac-toe on a table napkin.

After writing an _X_ for his turn, completing the three letters, Karma raised his chin. "You two are back," he pointed out while Chiba's shoulders slouched in defeat, making it the fourth one consecutively.

"Sorry it took a while," Hayami told the boys before giving her date a glimpse.

"Shall we go now?" she asked him.

Karma, then, stood up beside Okuda. He queried, "Where are you headed next?"

"To the shooting grounds nearby," Chiba answered.

"How unromantic ~" the red-head razzed. "Even on your date, you are still dedicated to your training."

With both of them sharing a glance, Chiba said first, "That's part of a reason" while Hayami continued, "But we also find gun shooting fun and satisfying." 

◈◈◈

⋆★⋆

In contrast to her downcast eyes and reluctant steps when they had gone in earlier, Okuda was looking chipper as they stepped out of the restaurant.

"You are in good mood now," Karma stated as he matched her slower pace.

She nodded cheerily and said, "Hayami-san praised me for my talent earlier. She isn't so scary after all."

"Heh~" A smile crossed his face as he stifled his laugh at the fact that Okuda was frightened at Hayami. It was inevitable though since the orange-haired sniper could be found intimidating with her ice-cold stare and words.

Then he said further, "She is not wrong. You have a knack for your passion. I find it helpful in a lot of ways."

 _'Although mostly for my pranks,'_ he thought after.

"Thank you, Karma-kun," Okuda uttered, pleased to receive such confirmation from another one of the prodigies especially when she was able to help him despite her shortcomings.

"I've been hearing about this lately from our classmates, so I've been wondering," she began to say when Karma turned towards her. "Do Chiba-kun and Hayami-san like each other?"

He stopped in his tracks as the sudden yet obvious question almost broke him into a snort. "I didn't think that you would be interested in romance," he said before facing his front and his legs started moving.

Her gaze turned down with a slight blush on her cheeks. "I have been having thoughts about it lately," she admitted sheepishly.

Although she found the two snipers intimidating, she internally admired them in a lot of ways. Sitting beside Chiba, she had been watching him keeping quiet and calm as he observed his surroundings. Behind Hayami, she could see her professionalism towards other people and her hard work in both studies and assassination. Whenever the four of them - she, Karma, Hayami, and Chiba – were seated together during biology, the 'work' chemistry and fluent cooperation of the sniper duo as laboratory partners never ceased to impress her.

That's why seeing them together made her want to do better. In fact, she has been secretly hoping for them to end up together especially when she was beginning to take an interest in someone herself.

There was a short delay before Karma asked nonchalantly, "Do you like someone right now?" which sent her into a panic.

Darting her eyes here and there, Okuda splatted her hands on both of her cheeks. "Maybe," she stuttered following it with, "H-How about you?"

"Yeah. It's _you._ "

With a dancing water fountain beside them, it was Okuda's turn to stop. "E-Eh?!" Her eyes widened, heartbeat increasing its pace, as she jerked her head towards him.

As his golden eyes turned solemn, he bent closer to her. "Why do you think I accompanied you today? Hm?" he said in a smoky tone.

Her whole body felt spiraling as blood rushed to her head. ' _This is bad. I think I'm going to faint,'_ she thought right before her vision turned black. 

* * *

## 9.2

【 **𝙲𝚘𝚕𝚍 𝙷𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚜** 】

⋆★⋆

White puffs escaped her mouth as Hayami sat on the front stairs. Despite the drop in temperature this month, staying outside for over half an hour was not a big deal for her. She could manage with only a thin layer of brown coat; there was no need for her to wear a pair of mittens and a scarf.

Then Chiba came out of the building, having just finished returning the props and costumes they had used in the drama festival. Upon seeing her waiting for him, he began creeping up her back with his hands ready.

Although he already knew about her tolerance to the cold, his arms still motioned towards her head slowly until his palms touched both of her cheeks.

She flinched merely because of the sudden contact and not of his freezing touch. Then, turning over her shoulder, she told him, "That's not going to work on me."

He broke into an impish smile. "No harm in trying."

Afterward, they headed into the forest path to climb down the mountain. There they talked about the class play they did earlier. They praised Hazama for her mad skills in writing the script and Sugino for his hidden gift in acting, which made it more entertaining for the audience.

When they had fallen silent, Hayami caught her companion rubbing his hands together and blowing on them simultaneously. "You should have worn gloves," she pointed.

"I forgot this morning." He wrapped his arms around himself as his lips quivered. "You are lucky that you can handle the cold."

She, then, pulled out two hot packs from her bag. Whilst handing them to him, she said "Here" to which he took with a shaky smile.

"Thanks," he uttered, thanking the heavens for an angel like her.

Upon shoving the hot packs, together with his hands, inside his pockets, a question crossed his mind – "There is no need for you to have these, right?"

"My mother insisted I bring them."

A few moments later, she saw him let out a satisfied sigh as the warmth gradually seeped into his palms. With this, a corner of her mouth tugged up.

"That nice?" she asked.

He hummed.

Since he was not anymore distracted from the cold, he could now catch the fog coming out of his mouth. He took a peek on his left and saw the same white fumes from her. Then his gaze traveled to her slender hands. He wondered if they were also cold as his hands had been.

"Maybe I should bring them every day. In case you forget again," she said.

"Your hands will work too," he replied half-jokingly.

She turned her head away to hide her flustered face. "Don't get your hopes up," she blurted out while maintaining her monotone.

He chuckled, knowing what she meant.

They still have to come to terms with their feelings for each other. Even though they have been hanging out outside school and they were closer to each other than with their other classmates, their relationship was not official yet.

That's why there were boundaries that they couldn't cross. For some reason, he wasn't sure when to settle this 'thing' between them.

When she had faced forward, she was back to her usual self. After taking several steps, she said, "If you ask for it, I might do it."

His mouth fell open as his head cocked towards her. He, then, cleared his throat.

"Someday."

She smiled bleakly with a soft hum. Like him, she was thinking that although they have been wanting to, they knew that now was not the right time. 

* * *

## 9.3

【 **𝙼𝚊𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙳𝚒𝚏𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚞𝚕𝚝 𝙲𝚑𝚘𝚒𝚌𝚎** 】

⋆★⋆

When Kaede Kayano had taken an attempt on Korosensei's life, it was revealed that her real name was _Akari Yukimura_ , the younger sister of Class 3-E's previous homeroom teacher, Aguri Yukimura. She was once a talented child actress before becoming dormant in the industry so that she could enact her revenge for her sister's death by using the tentacles that Korosensei has and that Itona had.

The revelation of her true identity has impelled Korosensei to disclose his past to everyone. He told them that he was once a human – an assassin – who had become a lab rat in an experiment as a result of his apprentice's betrayal. There, he met Aguri who has taught him compassion and kindness up to her last breath. Because of her, her final wish, he has decided to teach and help the students of Class 3-E in her stead.

Who would have thought that knowing about their target's past would drive them into a predicament? That is...

... to kill or to save their teacher?

Everyone has been spending their winter break weighing on these two options. Realizing that there was more to just killing their teacher with the things he has done for them and the memories they have shared, they started to consider the possibility of saving Korosensei – especially Nagisa.

One night after another uneventful day, Hayami called Chiba on his phone. She asked to meet since she needed the company and some share of insights with her partner.

"Where can we meet?" she asked, a tinge of weariness in her husky voice.

Chiba glanced at the wall clock of his room, telling him that it was already half an hour before midnight. "I'll think up of something," he said. "For now, go to sleep."

"You too."

"Mm." He could hear her stifling a yawn from the other end. Although she could not see it, he smiled. "Good night."

"Night."

The next morning, he sent her a message suggesting to clear their heads in a shooting range center. And she liked the idea.

◈◈◈

Pulling the trigger repeatedly at the targets before them, Chiba could feel the release of stress that had been tampering with his mind for the past week. Even Hayami was able to gather her thoughts but she has yet to make her final choice.

After using up all of her ammo, she slumped down on the ground while he followed her lead. She lowered her pistol in between her thighs as she asked in a soft tone, "What if we can save Korosensei?"

"We can't take the risk." He hugged his rifle to his chest. "If we don't kill him when the deadline comes, the explosion will destroy the earth."

She could not agree with him more. "And we formed a bond because of the assassination. It would all be a waste if we try to change that," she added.

"If we want to truly 'graduate', killing him would be the best way to do it," said Chiba before both of them got up on their feet.

Despite everything that Korosensei has taught them – the lessons he has endowed – they knew that nothing was going to change the fact that he was their target right from the start. That's why they should not change their objective now. For sure, he would also want that.

> HAYAMI: Not only for ourselves and the whole planet...
> 
> CHIBA: ... but also for him...
> 
> HAYAMI & CHIBA: ...We will land the sure kill!

As they began to finish each other's sentences, they raised their guns in unison and aimed them once again at the clean-slate targets. Declaring their final statement together, they pulled their triggers at the same time, both pellets piercing through the bullseye of their respective targets.

_Perfect shot._

◈◈◈

With their standpoint on the assassination all straightened out, the two snipers deemed it a good time to take a leisure walk on the streets. They passed by the riverbank where the sun crest over the horizon, the orange afterglow overlaying the cloudy sky.

Hayami stopped before facing the view. "Three months left," she muttered particularly to herself.

After catching her words, Chiba looked at her brooding face over his shoulder. He replied, "A lot happened."

This year was not just their last year before entering high school. There were a lot of words to describe what they have gone through but they could simply say that it was mainly filled with striving, suffering, and success. Both losses and victories were shared in this class. They have certainly grown not just as assassins but as themselves too.

Now that the deadline was coming near, it was clearer to them that they would need to make their remaining time count.

Even if they would have to _kill_ the very best thing that happened in their lives. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another Class E pairing has been given a spotlight. Do you also support Karmanami? Cuz' I think that they'd be cute together.
> 
> I've actually wanted to write a scene of Chiba and Hayami holding hands but then they are not even official yet so that's a shame.
> 
> And, damn, things just got gloomy. Did you notice Hayami's clothes in the manga when she and Chiba were together in the winter break to think about what to do with Korosensei? While Chiba was all warm and covered up, she was wearing only a skirt with one or two layers of her top. That is where I got the assumption that she is tolerant of the cold (besides the fact that she was part of the Skiing Club).


	12. 【10】𝕁𝕌𝕍𝔼ℕ𝕀𝕃𝔼 𝕁𝔸ℕ𝕌𝔸ℝ𝕐

## ▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢

## 10.1

**【𝙹𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚢】**

⋆★⋆

In the latter bit of the class' civil war, Karma raised his hand to surrender as he was grappled upon by Nagisa on the ground. With this, the Blue Team – save Korosensei – rejoiced while the opposing team – kill Korosensei – yielded to their loss and at the same time felt relieved that the outcome was one that everyone had competed for with everything they got.

Despite their disagreement earlier, the previously divided class with dissenting views was once again united as they traded flattery and admirations of the other's display of strength during the fight. As Korosensei told his two fellow teachers, a conflict could also be a way of bringing people closer together.

Both Chiba and Okajima approached Kanzaki and praised her for the stunt she had pulled when she attacked them from behind. Chiba was wholly impressed at her for hitting his back multiple times as Okajima adored her grace-like beauty by her side.

Hayami was watching the three interact from a distance when Hara, Isogai, Maehara, Itona, and Yada gathered around her. The first three were the ones that she had taken down earlier before Yada snuck a shot on her. Including Takebayashi, Hayami has _four_ kills in total.

"You are so amazing, Hayami! No wonder Karma put you in the defense for the red team," Maehara said loudly.

Isogai nodded. "Yeah. You really held your ground there very well until Yada-san targeted you," he stated as his gaze darted to the brunette in a ponytail.

"I'm sure that was just a lucky shot," Yada said sheepishly.

Giving her a stern look, Hayami told her, "No way that was a fluke. You knew that I'd be focused on taking down Isogai, so you went beyond my field of vision before taking that shot."

Yada's cheeks became flushed at her statement, making her proud of her small achievement of landing a hit on the girls' top marksman.

As the five engross themselves in the details of their fight, emerald orbs once again turned back to the raven-haired sniper chatting happily with Kanzaki, who looked pleased as punch. Her hand climbed to her chest where she felt a sting.

This did not go unnoticed by Class 3-E's motherly figure, Hara Sumire. She elbowed the brunette beside her and her eyes pointed to Hayami's strained expression staring at Chiba and Kanzaki.

Yada met Hara's gaze as impish smiles crossed their faces. They moved closer towards Hayami, bordering her on both sides.

"If you're jealous, why don't you go over there?" Hara told Hayami while feigning callousness.

The orange-haired sniper glanced at the two girls consecutively. "What are you talking about?" she asked impassively as she refrained herself from stealing a glimpse at _him_ and _her_.

Hara sneaked a look at their two classmates who were now talking alone – Okajima nowhere to be seen. "I know that you have been looking at _them_ for a while. From what I can see, there's a good chance that Chiba-san will start to fall for Kanzaki. Am I right, Yada?" She shifted a glance towards Yada, who was now turning queasy, thinking that the pudgy food-lover might be going too far at this.

When Hara had given her a reassuring wink, Yada said feebly, "Yeah."

"You're spouting nonsense." Hayami folded her arms. "Why would I get jealous?" she said before walking away.

Having seen Hayami's gesture, after mingling with her for this long, Yada knew then that Hara was spot-on on her speculations – that Hayami was jealous of Kanzaki at the thought of Chiba being attracted to the black-haired beauty.

◈◈◈

"Hayami, let's go down together."

After they had been dismissed, Chiba immediately went to Hayami's seat, hoping to spend some time with her today since he did not have the chance to from the class battle earlier.

Odd enough, it took more than a second for her to respond. When she did, she bobbed her head with Hara and Yada rubbernecking from their seats.

Then, with discreet reluctance, she followed him out of the room. She has yet to make sense of her bothersome feelings, and now she would be spending time with the one who was maybe the cause.

Not being able to withhold herself anymore, she spoke up in the middle of their walk in the forest. "Kanzaki was outstanding today. She must have taken you by surprise."

"Yeah." A smile hovered on his lips. "You were pretty amazing too for having four kills."

"Not only Kanzaki is attractive, but she is also good in academics and battle strategies," Hayami stated further.

Her uncharacteristic exaltation of their classmate has made Chiba more aware that something was off about her at the moment. As he pondered about the reason, he said, "You are pretty and have good grades too. You're also capable in a battlefield with your mobile sniping and close-range combat."

"Still, Kanzaki is refined with a pleasing personality. You must want a girl like her."

The words that had just slipped out her mouth halted him on his tracks. He swerved his body towards her when it had hit upon him why she was behaving strangely.

"Are you jealous?" he blurted.

Her legs became steady. Eyes on him, she batted an eyelid and, then, asked in a soft tone, "Am I?"

The look on her features gave away the answer. That would explain the chill he had felt a while ago when he was with Kanzaki, and why Hara and Yada had been giving him odd glances.

Before moving ahead, he said, "I'm with you now, aren't I?" to put her at ease that no matter how beautiful or amazing any girl was, he would still pick her.

And she believed that. 

* * *

## 10.2

【 **𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚂𝚕𝚎𝚎𝚙𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛** 】

⋆★⋆

Relief, delight, and resolute hope sprouted from within the young students of Class 3-E after finding out that their target, whom they have come to cherish, could still be saved. The research from space provided that Korosensei could have only a 1% probability of exploding by March.

Even so, they would continue to swing their blades at their target until the government retracted its request.

To relish in their discovery today, the girls planned to have a sleepover tonight. They chose to do it at Kayano's place considering that she lived alone and its space was enough for twelve of them.

"Rich kid!" Nakamura exclaimed when they had arrived at Kayano's two-story house.

"Even after my parents died, my sister and I still maintained the house with earnings from her work and my acting career," explained Kayano. "Thankfully, I'm managing right now with my sister's insurance and what's left of our savings."

Kayano, then, led everybody inside. "Since we won't all fit in my room, some of you can use my sister and parents' bedroom," she told them.

"We can just sleep here in the living room," Kataoka suggested, reluctant to intrude in a deceased family member's space.

Before heading to the kitchen, Kayano said, "It's fine. There's no way I will let you do that. Wait a moment. I'll serve you some drinks. Do you want juice or tea?"

When the girls had finally become accustomed to the place, they began to play different sorts of games. Of course, Nakamura once again advocated the game of 'Truth or Dare'.

This made Hayami uncomfortable since she was put under the spotlight the last time she played that game with her classmates. She was certain that the same thing would happen tonight with the blonde prankster around.

And how she strongly wished she was wrong.

This time, they have Ritsu spin a digital arrow on Kataoka's phone. When the arrow had stopped towards Hayami, she picked 'Dare', learning her lesson that the other option would only lead to a question related to _him._ But what she did not take into account was the possibility that her dare would also be about _him_ especially that Nakamura would be the one to give it.

A coy smile was plastered on Nakamura's face as she revealed the dare: "Hayami, for your dare, I want you to go to Chiba-kun's house and give him a hug for seven seconds. You are not allowed to tell him that it was a dare."

"Are you seriously going to make me go there?" Hayami protested.

"Don't worry. It's not that much effort since his house is only a three-minute walk from here," said Nakamura coolly.

◈◈◈

Chiba was having a déjà vu when he had heard the doorbell while he was in the kitchen. After setting down the glass of water on the counter, he proceeded to the foyer and opened the door.

Lo and behold, the visitor was Hayami in the flesh. Again.

"Hello, Chiba," she greeted like it was nothing.

In a state of confusion, he asked, "Aren't you supposed to be in the sleepover?"

"About that –" hands behind her back, her eyes averted from him "– I want to say sorry in advance."

His head angled to the side. "For what?"

"For this." She took a step forward and, then, wrapped her arms around his torso, resting her cheek on his chest.

He felt as if time had stopped when her warmth had clung to him. His heart began to race at a rapid rate with his face turning red.

Inside her mind, Hayami did a 7-second countdown, shutting her eyes tight as she stomached this embarrassing yet heart-pounding moment. Then she wondered what his reaction was and what he was thinking right now.

Without looking down, Chiba was about to ask Hayami what on earth she was doing when he caught a glimpse of blonde hair by the gate.

' _Ah. I get it now,'_ he thought as he breathed out heavily.

Of course, Hayami would not be doing this of her own will. Although she had already gone to his house spontaneously at nighttime, it was not for a reason like this.

While the rest of the girls were in Kayano's bedroom, Nakamura accompanied Hayami here to live stream on her phone the whole thing for them. Over the gate, with only her eyes peering over, she was enjoying the show when out of the corner of her eye she saw a large figure in a ninja outfit also spectating at the sniper duo.

The peeping Tom was no doubt Korosensei. Hopefully, he wouldn't follow them back to the sleepover, or else he would be dead meat to the girls.

When the seven seconds were up, Hayami detached herself from him. Her eyes were leering on his feet, avoiding his face, as she tightened her coiled fists, her face flushed red.

"That's it. Bye," she said with haste right before spinning on her heel and marching away.

Speechless, as if a lump was stuck in his throat, Chiba did a wave as he stared at her retreating back.

' _That gave me a heart attack,'_ he thought.

◈◈◈

After the 'Truth or Dare', they took a bath – each taking a turn over the two bathrooms inside the house – which gave Hayami the liberty to ruminate over what had transpired earlier at Chiba's doorstep.

The sensation of his body taller than her, his sturdy built, and the scent of his detergent. All of those have made her feel warm and fuzzy inside.

When she was done changing into her nighties, wearing her hair down, she went to the living room for the storytelling. Four ghost stories later, it was Hazama's turn to narrate, flashlight illuminating her scary pale face.

Some of the girls were trembling and hugging each other from fright throughout Hazama's story. When she had reached the end, Kayano swept a look towards the window where she saw a white round face with a spooky grin.

She let out a shriek, her finger pointing to the window. "A GHOST!" she yelled, making everyone else turn their heads.

Several of them screamed and jumped on their seats until Nakamura's eyebrows scrunched up.

"Wait," she said as she rose on her feet. "That's no ghost." Then she came closer to the window and slid it open.

"It's Korosensei!" she proclaimed.

"Hello there, girls," Korosensei greeted nervously. Chills ran down his spine upon seeing the furious looks of his students.

"I-I just want to c-check if you are d-doing fine in y-your sleepover. I-It's nice to see you h-having f-fun," he stammered after.

Pointing angrily, Okano declared, "You scum!" right before sending a pillow flying at his face.

The yellow octopus screeched when the other girls had followed her lead in hurling random objects at him.

> KURAHASHI: What are you doing here ruining our girls' night?
> 
> FUWA: Even though this part is not that relevant to this fanfic, the author still wrote this to give you some appearance!
> 
> YADA: You're a disgrace as our teacher!
> 
> KAYANO: Just leave, will ya?

His heart crushed into pieces at their hurtful words, although he deserved it, Korosensei covered his weeping face before launching off in a Mach 20 speed. 

◈◈◈

░*░*░*░

🆃🆁🆄🆃🅷 or 🅳🅰🆁🅴  
 _(Class E girls)_

_░*░*░*░_

[̲̅1]

**♥ Hinano Kurahashi ♥**

"DARE"

[Act like Bitch-sensei during the whole game.]

[̲̅2]

**♥ Yukiko Kanzaki ♥**

"TRUTH"

[If you were to go out with someone in Class E, who would it be?]

*

 _Answer:_ Sugino-kun.

[̲̅3]

**♥ Touka Yada ♥**

"DARE"

[Wear the lingerie (that Nakamura had brought for some reason) and perform a sexy dance.]

[̲̅4]

**♥ Kirara Hazama ♥**

"DARE"

[Act cute.]

*

_Surprisingly, she pulled it off although it gave everyone the creeps. They preferred the usual Hazama.  
_

[̲̅5]

♥ Rio Nakamura ♥

"DARE"

[Smash a raw egg on your head and then sing an English song.]

[̲̅6]

**♥ Rinka Hayami ♥**

"DARE"

[Go to Chiba's house and give him a hug for seven seconds. You are not allowed to tell him that it was a dare.]

[̲̅7]

**♥ Yuzuki Fuwa ♥**

"TRUTH"

[Tell us a secret that you haven't told anyone yet.]

*

 _Answer:_ I know what is going to happen between Chiba-kun and Hayami in the last chapter of this story. And that is... *spoiler alert*

[̲̅8]

**♥ Sumire Hara ♥**

"TRUTH"

[You want to become a housewife in the future, right? If you will marry someone in Class E, who will it be?]

*

 _Answer:_ Yoshida, because I've known him since childhood.

[̲̅9]

**♥ Hinata Okano ♥**

"TRUTH"

[Will you confess your feelings to Maehara?]

*

 _Answer:_ Wait, you already knew?! Uhmm... I'm not sure. Maybe I will.

[̲̅1][̲̅0]

**♥ Minami Okuda ♥**

"TRUTH"

[Are you going out with Karma?]

*

 _Answer:_ H-How did you know? Oh no. I even promised him not to tell anyone.

_All the girls promised Okuda that they won't tell this to the boys and they won't bring it up to Karma himself.  
_

[̲̅1][̲̅1]

**♥ Megu Kataoka ♥**

"DARE"

[Do a catwalk here while wearing fashionable clothes.]

*

_All of the girls were smitten when she modeled before them in Kayano's clothes.  
_

[̲̅1][̲̅2]

**♥ Kaede Kayano ♥**

"DARE"

[Call Nagisa and ask him if he thinks that you are cute.]

*

 _Nagisa's Answer:_ What's with the sudden question? But yes, I think you are cute, Kayano-san.

_Kayano was then passed out on the floor for two minutes.  
_

* * *

## 10.3

【 **𝙱𝚘𝚢𝚜' 𝙸𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝** 】

⋆★⋆

After changing from gym clothes, Kayano left the restroom with some of the girls. They were on their way to the classroom when she recalled that moment when Okajima attempted to take a peek at them before. To avoid that, they took turns keeping watch outside the restroom while the rest changed inside every P.E. class. 

"Why are the boys all about pervy stuff?" she whined.

"I agree with you, kid," Irina chipped in alongside them. She was also heading to the room to teach the next class. "But for some reason, that straight-laced Karasuma was not at all affected by my advances. I'm starting to think that maybe women are not his type."

With a knowing look, Nakamura placed both hands on her hips. "Unlike some guys, there are those who are not expressive about their interests and desires unlike some," she said.

"Yeah. Generally, all boys are actually erotic," Okano seconded as a matter-of-fact with a disapproving look.

"That's not true," Hayami said. "I know that Chiba is not like that."

All pairs of eyes were fixed on her.

The blonde prankster arched her eyebrow as a grin crossed her face. "You don't need to defend your boyfriend, Rinka."

"He's not my boyfriend," Hayami corrected to which Nakamura snickered with her hand over her mouth.

Then Okano interjected, "How are you so sure about that?"

Nonplussed by Okano's biting remarks, Hayami stated, "Throughout the time that we're together, I've never seen him take an interest in that stuff."

The brown hair was not convinced. She was about to object when Kayano beat her to the punch. "Well, you are always with him so you would know him better," the green-haired said.

Nakamura tutted with a beam while wagging her finger. "Not necessarily. He might be thinking about it without you knowing it."

Having enough of their debate, Irina flicked her hand with the other arm across her chest. "Listen, girls. It is okay for boys to like perverted things. It is in their nature. It is part of puberty. What's condemning is whether they act decently about it or not," she reasoned nondescriptly.

Hayami mulled over what the two blondes have said. If that was the case, then, there could have been moments when Chiba had been thinking about those things. He was just prudent enough not to be like Okajima and a few others.

With her gaze over her shoulder, Kataoka slid the door open as she began to say, "For me, it's enough that the boys act accordingly like gentlemen." She faced the front before turning stiff when her eyes had lain upon the scene before her.

Huddling up in the middle of the room were the majority of the boys. Korosensei was at the center, holding an adult magazine while the others were poring over it with him. Standing behind them was Chiba with another magazine dangling in his hand; its cover was a girl in a bikini. Okajima and Maehara were beside him, struck frozen upon seeing the girls in the doorway.

Veins popping on her forehead, Kataoka put up her raging fist. "What the hell are you guys doing?!" she growled.

"So shameless," Okano grumbled as she cracked her knuckles, flames flickering in her background.

"Aha!" Nakamura spouted before rushing to Chiba's side, the magazine still in his grasp. Pointing at him, she turned to the orange-haired sniper. "Hayami, what were you saying earlier?" she taunted.

Chiba recoiled at the sight of Hayami merely gawking at him. Without a word and eyes dead ahead, she started walking towards her seat. His gaze followed her as she passed by him.

After that, the boys were battered with fists and kicks combined with a lengthy lecture from the female class rep. Some of the girls went after Korosensei, who luckily escaped at the speed of light.

◈◈◈

**_While the girls were still changing in the restroom, Okajima whipped out an adult magazine and browsed over its pages with drool coming out of his mouth._ **

**_"Whoa. What a beauty!" Maehara exclaimed upon walking by Okajima's seat._ **

**_The semi-bald pervert cocked his head at him and said, "Right?"_ **

**_As the two eyeballed the photos of women in alluring clothing, some of their male classmates joined in on the party until the magazine was snatched from Okajima._ **

**_"Bringing this type of reading material is forbidden in school," Korosensei told them off when his puny eyes zoomed in on an opened page and blurted out, "BOOBS!"_ **

**_A minority of the boys with sane minds hopelessly watched them feast on the magazine with their own teacher as an accomplice._ **

**_With everyone clustered around Korosensei, the 'magazine' rather, Okajima was having difficulty taking a good look even though it belonged to him. And so, he sneaked out a second one from his blazer when someone elbowed his arm, causing him to drop it on the floor. He bent down to pick it up only for it to be accidentally kicked away by Maehara._ **

**_"Oops. Sorry, man," Maehara said with a rub on the back of his neck._ **

**_Chiba was playing shogi with Karma when something slid on the floor near them. "Wait a sec," he said to his opponent before standing up._ **

**_When he had picked it up from the floor, he was approached by Okajima, who said, "Thanks, Chiba."_ **

**_Before the semi-bald pervert could take the magazine back, all heads flew to the door gliding open. The guilty boys' faces paled upon catching sight of the girls._ **

**_"Aha! Hayami, what were you saying earlier?"_ **

**_Chiba glanced at the item in his clutch and was startled to find out what it was. He, then, turned his gaze to his sniping partner._ **

**_'Crap_ ** _', **he thought.**_

༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛ _ **  
**_

"So that's what happened," he finished before taking a look at her as they trekked down the mountain. ****

"I see," she said with a straight face. "But you don't need to explain yourself to me."

"I don't want you to misunderstand."

Although Chiba was innocent on the 'magazine incident', it did not mean that Hayami would once again believe that he was completely detached from any perverted thinking as the words of Nakamura and Irina emerged in her mind:

_"He might be thinking about it, you know, without you knowing it."_

_"It is okay for boys to like perverted things. It is in their nature. It is part of puberty."_

"Don't worry, I'm not mad. I understand that it is natural for boys to think about that stuff," she said.

He stiffened as he looped his head towards her. "I-Is that so?" he stuttered, which was a first as he was usually passive about almost everything.

Her eyes flicked towards him. "Isn't that the case?" she asked.

He cleared his throat and nodded. It caught him off-guard that she would be talking about that. He was not open to discussing such matterscompared to certain people _._ Whenever Okajima had talked about his erotic interests, Chiba would either change the subject or shrug it off.

Sweat rolled down his forehead when she had smiled and said, "I won't hold it against you" since he did not know what to decipher from that when in fact she wasn't implying anything. 


	13. 【11】𝔽𝕆ℝ𝔼𝕍𝔼ℝ 𝔽𝔼𝔹ℝ𝕌𝔸ℝ𝕐

## ▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢

## 11.1

【 **𝙶𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝙻𝚞𝚌𝚔 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚖** 】

⋆★⋆

"Are you nervous?"

After releasing his aim, Chiba cast a glance at Hayami, who was similarly holding a gun, arms firm towards the target.

"Yeah," he replied.

Tomorrow he would be taking the entrance exam to his dream school. He would be lying if he said that he was completely calm right now. That's why, to relieve the tension in his mind, he had asked his sniping partner to have a quick practice in the afternoon.

She lowered her gun and, then, inserted a hand inside her pocket. "Maybe this will help," she said as she fished out a miniature pouch –

– a good luck charm.

She tossed it towards him, which he seized with ease. "Thanks." He gave it a look, with a corner of his mouth turned up, before hiding it inside his pants.

 _'She said her exam is next week,'_ he thought. ' _I should also give her one.'_

"You will pass it."

He glanced at her, whose eyes became keener, filled with surety, as she added, "I'm sure of that."

◈◈◈

He was struck-cold when he had waltzed in the living room and came upon his older sister, Emi, who has sharp azure eyes and long raven hair, sitting on the couch while working something on her laptop.

"Nee-san, you're home," he blurted out of shock.

Trotting down the stairs was their five-year-old sister, Hitomi, with shorter hair fixed into pigtails, color the same as them. Although her eyes were maroon-red like Chiba, its roundness and cheeriness did not hold an intense gaze.

"Onii-chan, welcome home!" Hitomi cried out with glee as her frail small hands clasped his legs.

An affectionate smile crossed his face as he stroked his sister's head, which disappeared right away when Emi had stood up, displaying her hourglass figure, with a serious expression.

"You know, Mom told me something unimaginable after I came back home from the university since it's our break," she began to say. With a hand on her hip, she sashayed her way to him.

Then she stopped before him, her height on an even level as him, as her face shifted. "When did you get yourself a girlfriend?!" she fussed.

This was why he dreaded her being here in this house.

"I don't have a girlfriend," he said firmly before walking past her.

Hitomi scuttled after him and begged him to play with her. Gently, he turned down since he needed to prep himself up for tomorrow. Pouting her lips, she dragged her feet to the living room to watch TV instead as he climbed the stairs.

Emi let out a huff when her eyes fell on the tiny object swaying from his bag. She sneered as her eyebrows rose.

"So what's that on your bag?" she queried, which halted him on his steps.

He looked down on his hand carrying his bag, then, at his sister. "A charm," he said flatly.

"I know what that is!" she groused. Shortly after, her smirk returned, crossing her arms as she leaned sideways on the wall. "So did your girlfriend give that to you?"

"She's not my girlfriend."

She finger gunned at him as if she had hit the bullseye. "Ah. That means 'she' actually exists." She stood upright on both feet before turning to the kitchen. "If you need love advice, you can ask your dear Onee-san," she proclaimed as her legs started moving.

Chiba breathed out exasperatedly. Again, this was why he did not want her to return. Every time she found something about his personal life she would poke fun at him for it. Like Karma and Nakamura.

He was lucky that he had gotten only questions from her today. But he knew that next time it would not be the same. 

* * *

## 11.2

【𝚅𝚊𝚕𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝙱𝚒𝚝𝚜】

⋆★⋆

It was Valentine's Day tomorrow.

Since Hayami was occupied with her entrance exam, she did not have the time to think about what to give to her sniping partner. And so for the day before the event, she has been spending twenty-five minutes roaming around the grocery store for suitable chocolate.

She picked up a box of chocolates tied with a red ribbon and embellished with lace and hearts. She quickly set it back. There was no way that she would give a _honmei_ chocolate. Although what she felt for him was 'special', it was not to the extent that what she wanted to convey was romantic.

She wandered around further until she stumbled upon the candy section. Her eyes were scouring every item on display when one caught her attention.

It somehow reminded her of the pellets they used in the assassination. It was not grandiose but not thoughtless either. All she needed was a simple one that would much or less show how much she admired and respected the recipient for what they have been through together in the assassination.

This compact chocolate, fused with an idea, satisfied all of her conditions. Clutching it in her hand, she knew exactly that this was it.

When the next day had arrived, she went towards him after class and told him that she has something to give to him on the shooting grounds. Upon going there, Chiba remained standing on the ground as he kept his eyes on her, waiting for her.

While flaunting the chocolate bits in her hand, she said, "Let's make a bet. If you're able to hit the targets using these bits, I'll give you the rest."

She, then, slotted in several chocolates into the magazine before handing it to him. "So what do you say?" she challenged with a small smirk.

Thrusting the magazine into the pistol, Chiba replied, "I'm in."

◈◈◈

After dropping his bag onto the floor, he lurched himself to his bed and lifted the chocolate bits to the ceiling. The words she told him when she had flung the chocolate at him rung inside his head:

**_"I really respect you. Let's continue to get along from here on out."_ **

He was happy to receive something from her and that she, too, wanted to be with him longer. But for some reason, he still felt lacking in her pragmatic phrase.

_What am I expecting? A confession from her?_

He ran his thumb across the container and opened it as he brought it low towards him. Then he munched on a few bits and closed the lid before letting his arms fall to his sides.

_He now knew what to do after their graduation. On White Day._

* * *

## 11.3

【 **𝙼𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚌 𝙲𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗** 】

⋆★⋆

Upon coming back from the restroom, Hayami caught wind of Chiba and Nakamura inside the classroom having a debate over which music was better – American Pop or Japanese Hardcore Punk.

Since she rarely saw him become worked up about anything else besides assassination, she ended up spectating them while returning to her seat when Nakamura whipped her head in her direction.

"How about you, Rinka? What would you choose: _Uptown Funk_ by Bruno Mars or _All Generations_ by Hi-STANDARD?" the blonde prankster asked.

Hayami stepped closer to them – to Chiba's seat – before glancing at him, who looked eager for her answer.

"I don't even know both of those songs," she said drably with her arms across her chest.

Both music-lovers fell out of their seats. She must be joking. Those songs were popular with the present generation, so unless you lived in a cave, you would have heard them.

"You're serious," Nakamura uttered in disbelief after taking a good look at Hayami's deadpan face. She turned to Chiba with an outstretched hand and told him, "Chiba-kun, let me borrow your headphones."

Then she fiddled on her phone before handing the plugged-in headphones to the orange-haired sniper. "This is _Uptown Funk,_ " she said.

While Hayami was listening to the song being played, both Nakamura and Chiba were gawking at her.

A few moments later, Nakamura started playing the second song. "Now this is _All Generations_. Both of these songs are trending now."

_"Nurufufufufu..."_

Their heads turned when Korosensei had suddenly appeared, garbed in an Elvis Presley outfit.

"Even though both of you love music, you have different preferences, which is understandable," he told the two of them. "But the problem is which one is better? We can find that out with a –" with a microphone in one tentacle, he did the iconic pose of Elvis "– music show!"

Before any of the three could react, Korosensei dashed to the front, now back in his teaching attire. The attention of the whole class whipped towards him as he began to say, "Everyone, let us have a music competition between Nakamura-san and Chiba-kun to determine which of the music genre they like is better."

> SUGAYA: That's so random...
> 
> OKANO: He is doing anything that he wants again.
> 
> ISOGAI: Why not? It could be fun. The exam's over anyway.

The yellow octopus lifted one tentacle as he said further, "Although school and assassination are your top priorities, it doesn't mean that you should not flourish on your interests. Music is not only an outlet for your talent and skills. It is also a great way of expressing your emotions.

Now, I will give you five days to prepare, so you only have until the weekend. The others can join Nakamura or Chiba, whoever you want, while we three teachers will be the judges. Chiba-kun and Nakamura-san, you have fifteen minutes to organize your group before we start our next class."

◈◈◈

So far, Chiba had gathered Hayami for the drums and Yada for the keyboard but still short of two members – a vocalist and an electric guitar player. He would be playing the bass guitar himself.

Nakamura, as expected, was already done with her recruitment. Her group, consisting of Isogai, Maehara, Nagisa, Kayano, Okano, and Kataoka, was flocked together in one corner, already brainstorming ideas.

"It is hard to imagine that a muscle-head like you would appreciate music."

When Chiba had heard the red head prodigy started throwing insults at the agitated Terasaka, his head turned over his shoulder.

> TERASAKA: Huh? Waddya mean? Of course, I like music. I listen and sing to it every time I shower.
> 
> KARMA: That's impossible. Not with a pea brain like yours.
> 
> TERASAKA: Hey, do you want me to prove it to you? I can sing right here, right now!
> 
> KARMA: Oh please, no. My eardrums will explode.

An insane thought crossed Chiba's mind. He approached the red head, whose back was facing him. "Karma, do you know how to play the electric guitar?" he asked.

Karma was holding an electric guitar as he whirled around. Strumming a complicated melody, he replied, "Not really~", dragging out the last syllable with a tune.

 _'Where did he get that?'_ Chiba thought, his gaze fixed on the instrument in Karma's hand.

"Would you like to join my band?" he asked as he moved on from the peculiarity of the electric guitar.

"If you insist," said Karma with a cock of his head. "I can also do the vocals."

Then Sugaya walked up beside them. "Hey, Chiba. Even though I do not have the talent for music, I'll be willing to give you a hand in other stuff," he said.

A smile hovered on Chiba's lips. "Thanks," he told the two boys before turning towards Sugaya. "I do need your help with something. I will ask Okuda-san and Takebayashi's help for it too."

"Cool," Sugaya uttered. "Now I want you to take a look at this." On top of his splayed out hand was a sketch portrait of Chiba, revealing a pair of eyes with its bangs clipped up.

"So?" He looked at him with bated breath.

When Chiba had shaken his head, Sugaya withdrew his hand as his shoulders drooped with a defeated look.

◈◈◈

On the actual day of the competition, Korosensei set up a stage in the open space in front of the building. He placed before the stage a long table covered in white cloth with three wooden chairs for the judges. Seats were also provided for the students not participating.

The first one to perform was Nakamura's group named **Pop is Life**. Their performance was a mashup of the hit pop songs _(inspired by KHS's pop medley video)._

__

Isogai and Maehara were the singers with the other members as dancers. Burning up in embarrassment while dressed in tight women's clothes was Nagisa, who was dancing provocative steps on the center of the stage. The music was edited by Mimura, and Hara and Okajima were in charge of costumes and props. 

Everyone gave a round of applause, with impressed whistles and cheers, when the music had ended. They enjoyed their performance particularly Karma, who had recorded Nagisa's spectacle on his phone.

"Thank you, _Pop is Life_ , for the impressive number! The next group is **No Eyes Punk** , led by Chiba-kun!" Ritsu announced from the side of the stage, clad in a dark red dress with long white gloves. "Will their Japanese Hard Punk outshine the first performance?" 

The whole audience fell silent when Chiba had climbed the stage along with his band. His fringe, which was fixed above his head with a clip, was nowhere to be seen on his face although was replaced with a pair of sunglasses – much to everybody's disappointment except for Hayami.

The sunglasses were modified by Okuda so that Chiba could have a transparent view while the outer side of the lens was tinted to prevent anyone else from seeing what was behind it. Sugaya did the paint and tint of the glasses and decorated their musical instruments with his 'art'.

Chiba, then, began strumming the bass guitar while Yada played the keyboard in a slow tempo. As soon as Hayami hit the cymbals, Karma set off a loud and accelerated rhythm from his guitar before singing in a yell-like rough tone,

_"Wise men say, only fools rush in. But I can't help falling in love with you..."_

After the last tune, howls, cheers, and inconsistent clapping surrounded the wide-open field. The sniper duo shared a look, accomplished smiles on their faces, as they told each other in their minds,

_Well done._

With a ragged breath, Karma's eyes roamed around the audience until they landed on a certain purple-haired bespectacled girl.

Ritsu's voice resonated through the speakers over their racket. "What an explosion! Thank you, _No Eyes Punk,_ for bringing more destruction to everyone's energy. I'm sure both performances today landed a kill-hit on our target in terms of music."

"After computing the judges' scores that were sent to my data, I will now announce the winner of this competition," she added.

She opened the white card in her hand, the anticipation sending each and every one of them into a fever pitch. "And the winner is –" she trailed off as a drum rolled in the background.

"– it's a tie!"

They were all thrown into a whammy at the outcome, which they expected to be only one winner.

After their reactions settled, Ritsu continued, "Both groups got the same score of 98.5, which was computed by getting the average of the three judges' scores."

"Although I'm not familiar with music –" Karasuma said with a proud smirk, arms crossed "– I commend the students for being able to pull off such performances."

"I admit that I was entertained by your talents especially Nagisa's, but in the end, I still prefer piano music," said Irina.

Korosensei stood on the stage with a grin morphed on his features. "It should occur to you now that it doesn't matter who wins in this competition and which genre is better. What is important is how music has impacted our lives, and how it has connected us to other people."

He turned to the two music enthusiasts. "Chiba-kun and Nakamura-san, you two both share a love for music but what type you like to listen to is different. While you argue over which one is better, don't you notice your perspectives about music widen? And you also get to know and understand the other person better with their preferences. Of course, this also applies to other things like sports and movies," he preached.

Nakamura's mouth formed into a beam as she drew near her music rival. Her hand extended, she said to him, "It was awesome battling you and your band. Let's exchange playlists after this and, then, we can criticize each other's music more. What do you say?"

With a consenting hum and nod, Chiba shook her hand. 

◈◈◈

The peace and quiet inside the music room – as well as the overstretched shadows – when they returned in the main building the last of the equipment they had used for the music competition, denoted that school has ended a while ago.

"As always, Korosensei has turned the competition into one of his 'lessons'," Hayami pointed out after finishing placing the drum set back in its place.

"I didn't know that you can play the drums," said Chiba as he sat on a stool and positioned his bass guitar on his lap.

Knowing that he wanted to jam a little more, she perched herself on the chair by the drums. "Fujiwara taught me," she replied. "He is good at it."

As far as Chiba knew, Fujiwara was the guy that they had run into in the first semester and the same one that had come to eat in their class at the school festival. Hayami once explained her past with him – how they had been friends until he confessed to her, and how he treated her badly when she had rejected him.

Although Chiba was aggravated for what Fujiwara had done, he simmered down upon hearing that he already apologized to her.

He began strumming the chords when she stated, "I saw your band's performance two years ago."

He stopped, "I see", and then resumed his strumming.

Being reminded of those days when he could play his music freely without worries has made him downhearted since he missed playing in a band. That was why he was grateful to Korosensei for launching today's music competition.

"You must have wanted to play again," she said.

"Mm."

The relaxing tune reverberated around the room, and Hayami listened to it in comfortable silence. Then she thought of something, which she shared with him by, "Can you play jazz?"

The corners of his mouth turned up, as though he was treating her simple inquiry as a challenge, when in fact he has been practicing how to do jazz using bass after knowing her related interest.

She wore a gentle smile as he started playing. Somehow, she felt like dancing but instead, she picked up the drumsticks and followed the beat.

A few minutes later, it was silent once again.

"That was fun," she uttered as that would be her first time playing jazz with an instrument. Even so, she preferred to move her body to the music.

"We make a pretty good band even with just the two of us," he claimed before getting up from his seat to put his guitar back in its case.

In turn, she covered the drum set with a white sheet before glancing at him playfully. "We better start composing our first song then," she quipped. 

* * *

## 11.4

【 **𝚂𝚝𝚘𝚕𝚎𝚗 𝙼𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚁𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚎𝚍** 】

⋆★⋆

Since Korosensei was not included in the class graduation album, he became dead set in making one besides the school's publication. This meant something unorthodox again which was already the norm in Class 3-E, where the students were assigned to kill their teacher by March.

Only a few weeks away till their deadline.

At first, the whole class was not motivated to take part in another of their teacher's frolics. But when Korosensei showed Hayami a picture of her in a pet shop wearing an elevated expression as she rubbed her cheek to a kitten followed by those of her other classmates, which were embarrassing and meant to be kept private, it was now clear to them that they have to participate in the editing.

"Everyone look for your photos! Grab and throw them away!"

All except for Karma scrambled to the stockpile of photos to discard shreds of evidence of their humiliating moments. Hayami could not believe her eyes when she saw another photo of her pursuing a cat, looking like a pervert. She immediately tore it into pieces before anyone noticed.

Likewise, Chiba was shaking as he stared at his picture walking to school with bed hair, his mouth wide open from yawning.

"Chiba and Hayami have gone out on a date?!"

All twenty-eight pairs of gazes darted towards Kimura, who was holding a photo showing the two snipers sitting face-to-face in a café. Nakamura, Terasaka, Kurahashi, and several more clumped around Kimura to take a look.

Then Maehara cried out suddenly – "They went out more than once!" – and flipped towards everyone the second date picture of Chiba and Hayami in the cinema.

Everyone's faces were now filled with mischief as their heads rotated to the pair. Both Chiba and Hayami gulped tensely as they stepped backward away from them.

The two looked at each other – _Let's get out of here_ – and nodded at once before dashing to the door.

While some were still caught up in the revelation of the sniper duo's dating status, discussing what-ifs and being hyped up that their ship has sailed, the rest went back to disposing of their pictures.

"Everyone, outside now!" Korosensei burst out as he wore an animal costume. "We need to add variety to our photos with some costume alterations!"

◈◈◈

"That was close," Chiba breathed out as he glanced back at the building. "It would have been torture if they bombarded us with questions."

Hayami crossed her arms. "I had a hunch that Korosensei was following us on our 'appointments' but I never thought that he would be taking photos," she said.

When their classmates had collectively emerged from the entrance, Chiba turned over his shoulder and flinched. "What are they doing outside?" he asked.

She merely shrugged in reply just as their yellow octopus teacher gave them a small fright from the tree branch above.

"We are having a photoshoot to add to my collection for the graduation album. You two are joining," Korosensei told them.

"Pass," said Chiba.

Hayami was about to say "Me too" when she was cut-off by the tentacle worming around her torso and Chiba.

"I'm sorry. You don't have much of a choice." Korosensei snickered deviously before taking them to where their classmates were.

They have been trying out various themes for their costumes until Korosensei thought of dressing the pairings in class into matching outfits for matchmaking purposes and as a reference for his novel.

While Korosensei was busy multi-tasking the photoshoot and the boys' costumes, the girls went inside the classroom to change. Upon finding out what they were going to wear, some of them voiced out their complaints.

"I don't want to wear that!" Hayami refused as she edged further to the back of the room.

Lifting the maid costume in her hands, Nakamura said with a sneer, "Why not? It'll look good on you."

Hayami shook her head violently, using her arms to shield herself.

_This was ridiculous. Why on earth would I –_

"Touka. Kurahashi. Back me up please," Nakamura called out over her shoulder.

Emerald-eyes widened at the brunette in a ponytail and at the orange wavy-hair, who were both closing in on her like predators. She tried to plead with her gaze to which they responded with apologetic smiles. But behind their façade, she could see two horns growing each from their heads.

Hayami gritted her teeth and braced herself for what was to come.

"You look so _kawaii_ , Haya-chan!"

"It fits you perfectly."

She squirmed sheepishly beneath the frilly costume as she fiddled with it. She was not one to put on this type of clothing because it was eye-catching and 'too cute'. It did not suit her personality and taste as well.

Nakamura placed one hand on her hip as she leaned to the sniper's ear. "You know who else will think you're cute?" she whispered.

As an answer to her question, the blonde prankster added, emphasizing every syllable – "Chi-ba-kun."

Turning her head away, a blush tainted Hayami's cheeks.

◈◈◈

"Ah," both of them blurted out at the same time as soon as they saw each other in their costumes.

While Hayami was a maid, Chiba was clothed in as a butler. Sweeping her gaze around, she found that her classmates' outfits were also complementary – like Nagisa and Kayano as both devils.

Upon looking back at her partner, she stiffened when she had caught him eyeing her profoundly while holding his chin. "What is it?" she asked with reluctance.

"Cute," he mumbled, the word running out of his mouth before thinking twice.

She smiled, a bit red-faced at his subliminal compliment, and said, "You look good yourself too."

Then Korosensei appeared in front of them in a flash, together with his camera, after finishing assembling their props – a prearranged round table by Hayami's side as she held a ceramic teapot and a tray on Chiba's hand with a towel slung over his other arm.

A tentacle ready on the button, Korosensei barked out a few instructions for their pose before pressing it.

_SNAP!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, finally. One chapter left.
> 
> This chapter is filled with rainbows and unicorns but we know (for those who are finished with the anime or manga) what's in store for them the following month.
> 
> I don't think there's anything more for me to say. My brain is already washed out from writing this chapter.
> 
> Thank you for those who have been reading this story so far. Please be a dear and express your thoughts on the comments below. Maybe, also, leave a kudos.
> 
> Thanks a bunch. 


	14. 【12】𝕄𝔼𝕃𝔸ℕℂℍ𝕆𝕃𝕐 𝕄𝔸ℝℂℍ

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the final chapter. Sit back and enjoy!

## ▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢

## 12.1

【 **𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝙽𝚘𝚝 𝙶𝚘𝚘𝚍𝚋𝚢𝚎, 𝙸𝚝'𝚜 𝙶𝚛𝚊𝚍𝚞𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚃𝚒𝚖𝚎** 】

⋆★⋆

Little did the students in Class 3-E know that behind their backs the government has been developing a wide-scale plan, in coordination with multiple countries, on the assassination of Korosensei. One week before the scheduled explosion, they launched the operation by firing _Heaven's Lance,_ a laser satellite created to kill any tentacle creature.

When Korosensei had survived that attack, they set off the anti-sensei laser barrier called _Earth's Shield_ to trap him within the mountain, which attracted the attention of everyone in town.

All of the students hurried there to meet their teacher only to find the place barricaded by armored vehicles and the military. Because of the pushy reporters drilling them with outrageous questions, they were left with no choice but to retreat until they were abducted by foreign mercenaries.

One thing led to another up to the moment when Korosensei faced against the second-generation Grim Reaper and Shiro, Yukimura's fiancé and the scientist who led the project on anti-matter. After the ferocious battle, he collapsed to the ground looking frail yet gratified.

It was then the Class 3-E was reminded that the time has come for them to make their choice. And at this point, they reached a consensus to take matters into their own hands.

As everyone else grabbed their precious teacher's tentacles down, Nagisa presented himself to make the kill. Before doing so, Korosensei requested to have a roll call for the final time.

One-by-one he called out the names of his students, their faces sullen and heavy. Each of them answered, and as he went nearer to the last student, their chests became tighter. 

"Chiba Ryuunosuke."

"Here."

"Hayami Rinka."

"Here."

"Itona Horibe."

"Here."

Saddled on top of Korosensei, knife tight in his grasp, Nagisa let out a distressed cry as he raised his arms in the air when Korosensei sedated his nerves with a touch of his tentacle.

"Remain calm... and smile."

The blue-haired followed his teacher's words as his mouth curved into his gentle smile. "Goodbye, Korosensei," he uttered.

"Indeed, this is goodbye."

As soon as the blade pierced through Korosensei's necktie – his 'heart' – his body started to disintegrate into tiny beads of light. Hayami's arms stretched up, trying to catch hold of the floating particles as her mind screamed repeatedly,

> _Don't go, Korosensei!_
> 
> _Please, don't leave us!_

Chiba stared down at the lights flowing on his hands. He swallowed when his fingers had begun to quiver, taking it in that Korosensei was gone.

When all the glowing particles had vanished and the darkness had returned, the instilling silence was interrupted by the sudden outburst of wails and sobs. Even the stoic snipers, known to be masters of hiding their emotions, were bawling their eyes out with everyone.

Hayami subconsciously tugged at Chiba's jacket as her shoulders continued to shake vigorously. Although he already has his bangs, he still covered his eyes with his arm in an attempt to stop his non-stop tears from pouring out.

They should be celebrating right now since their target has been finally killed, but in contrast, anguish and longing surrounded everyone. Even their other two teachers, who have grown attached to the class and have learned a lot for the past year, were dewy-eyed.

Letting go of the hem of his jacket, Hayami sluggishly followed her classmates inside the worn-out building. Upon arriving at their classroom, she saw a graduation certificate, graduation album, and a personalized consultation book on top of each of their desks.

Without a single word, they pored over the graduation album. She choked back on her tears as she got an eyeful of the class's bizarre and fun moments. How she wished that they could go back in time to relive them once again.

With _Korosensei._

Just the mere thought of his name brought a pang of pain in her chest.

When she had proceeded to the consultation book, her head was sent into spirals at their teacher's detailed and frivolous pieces of advice. The tears that she has been holding back spilled out on her cheeks once again till the fatigue consumed her into slumber.

  
◞┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈◟  
 _Korosensei, our beloved teacher,  
you will surely be missed.  
_◝┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈◜

Her eyes fluttered open at the rays of sunlight. Slowly, she lifted her head as her gaze clapped on the budding cherry blossoms through the window. Then she turned over her shoulder to see Chiba staring outside.

With the abundance of memories flowing in his mind right now, it felt as if they have been together forever. For a year, he devoted himself to studying and training, making sure that he became worthy as an assassin. At the present moment, he realized that their time spent together has been short-lived but special and incomparable.

He, then, thought of his words back then at the civil war about their bond formed in assassination and objective to kill. How shallow his approach was to the matter.

It was more than just the assassination. It was more than killing the target. It was about facing hurdles, growing, and overcoming them together. It was about gaining, but not at the expense of others, and using your wits to win challenges fair and square.

That's not all. In his experience for this year, he also made a lot of acquaintances, friends, and a _partner_ he could rely on.

After that, Karasuma walked into the room and embarked on his forewarning on what was to come for the students – harsh criticisms, media interference, and so on. For all of those, he apologized in advance to them.

With this, it's time to end the class officially.

"Stand!" Isogai enunciated.

The entire class rose on their feet and bowed down before Karasuma and Irina. "Karasuma-sensei and Bitch-sensei, you have our most humble gratitude for your instruction and guidance for this past year," they chorused.

◈◈◈

"Time flies so fast," moaned Sugaya as they exited the city hall where the Kunugigaoka Junior High's graduation ceremony was held.

"It feels like yesterday when Karasuma-sensei first came into our class," Nakamura said with a reminiscing look.

Followed by an exasperated sigh, the aspiring artist said, "I just wish that my parents were here. My mother is still not okay with me pursuing my art career and my father is furious that the school has let a _monster_ become our teacher."

The blonde prankster gave him a sympathetic look. "Damn, that must've been hard. I hope you'd get through with your parents. As for me and Chiba –" Her aqua blue eyes darted towards the taciturn boy "– our parents were here during the ceremony but they went ahead back home."

Chiba nodded to affirm her statement. Tapping the diploma on his shoulder, he scanned the crowd for _her_. He caught orange-brown hair intermingling with Yada and Kurahashi. He remained his eyes on her up until she met his gaze and returned his smile.

All their hard work and attempts in both assassination and studies definitely paid off. Even with _Korosensei_ not being physically here, they both knew that he would always remain within them as they treaded on further in their lives, onto their future, carrying with them the lessons he taught them and the blades they polished this year.

In their minds, they told each other at the same time – _We did it._

* * *

## 12.2

【 **𝚆𝚑𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝙳𝚊𝚢 𝙱𝚎𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜** 】

⋆★⋆

Despite having discussed already what they were going to do with the thirty billion yen awarded to them, as shush money by the government, they still decided to meet the next day to compute the exact allocation of amounts.

Much to the disappointment of some, they would be keeping only what was enough for their education and minimal living expenses. Donations would be given to several associations including the nursery, and a large purchase would be made for the mountain since the place was a home for them as well as Korosensei and Yukimura's. As gratitude for their support, the rest of the money would be given back to the government in hopes of elevating Karasuma's career.

An exception was made to the students in the quarantine of the old building to allow them privacy for their meeting. All of them agreed to come in with their Kunugigaoka uniforms one last time before they started wearing new uniforms of their respective high schools.

Instead of going straight to the classroom, Hayami went to the shooting grounds since she arrived ahead of time. She also knew in the back of her mind that she would be seeing _him_ here, being the early-bird he was.

Unsurprisingly she was right.

In the middle, Chiba was shooting at the targets, taking advantage of this final chance to use their anti-sensei guns and pellets. Hayami approached him quietly as the urge to shoot possessed her. She would miss their firearms training.

When he had used up his ammo, Chiba faced her. "Your turn," he said as he switched out the magazine to a new one before handing her the gun.

They did not need to greet each other; that was just the way they were – getting straight to the point.

Raising the pistol towards the target, she released a breath as soon as she pulled the trigger. She was taken aback at the pellet that swished out from the gun.

It was small but with a brown color, just like –

She swiftly turned towards him, who was now lifting in his hand a box of chocolate bits. He asked, a serene smile across his features, "Will you go out with me?" 

She gave him an uncanny look although her heart skipped a beat. "Haven't we done that already a few times?" she pointed.

Without budging, he said, "Let's make it official."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was the end of their story.
> 
> Gosh, I'm still so heartbroken on Korosensei's death scene. I was on the verge of tears since I wrote the last chapter while listening to the Tabidachi no Uta song.
> 
> As for the last bit, when the two made their relationship official, I did not make it cheesy or shoujo-like since that is not the style of our two stoic snipers. I added that part since there had been a blurred line between them from the start, and I think that this would be a good way of ending their year in junior high - by clearing out that line. If you can remember from that one chapter, Chiba didn't know when is the perfect time to settle things between them. It was not until Valentines' Day that he found his answer.
> 
> I want to point out the obvious that this story more or less explored the interactions between Chiba and Hayami that it can come off as slow-paced for some of you. Since they are casual and standoffish, the way I wrote their relationship was not completely romantic although I put some hints and teases here and there (considering that this is a love story too). 
> 
> Before I bid my adios, let me express my deepest gratitude to those who have finished this story! Thank you for your votes and comments - among other reasons why I had the motivation to continue writing. I hope that you'll read my other (current and future) works, which means that this won't be the last one.
> 
> If you have questions about this story, please don't hesitate to ask them in the comments. I'll be willing to answer them since I understand that there may be parts that are difficult to comprehend or you are just merely curious about something.
> 
> And, please, I'm open to any constructive criticisms on this story. I also want to make this story better as well as my future writing. So you're welcome to express your thoughts down below.
> 
> This is goodbye. For now.


	15. 𝕊𝕡𝕖𝕔𝕚𝕒𝕝 ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 (１)

## 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬

**━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━**

**－ ＪＵＮＥ －**  
_𝟑𝐫𝐝 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡_

_━━━━━━━━━▼━━━━━━━━━_

Droplets of rain drummed against the umbrella, engulfing any other sounds beyond his range. And so Chiba relaxed his self with the consistent rhythm as he strolled on the pavement.

Today he would be meeting Hayami in a coffee shop to study, and it turned out that the sky has decided to pour its tears coincidentally. It shouldn't be a surprise though since it's that season of the year, but he still wished that it didn't come this early. Having a space beside him during rainfall made him feel colder and... how should he say it... _lonesome_.

It's such an irony because his sort shouldn't be unsettled with solidarity.

Then, amidst the continuous shower, he picked up on a sound – soft, high-pitched, and familiar. He riveted towards the source, to an alleyway. There he saw a drenched cat meowing without fail below a pile of trash. It was curled up beside a ragged blanket, which he inferred to be wet as well.

Without a moment of hesitation, he went over the alley. He scanned the surroundings to see if there's any cover for that cat.

Nothing.

Having known that he would be late to his appointment, he scooped to the ground regardless and positioned his umbrella above the abandoned cat. He gave it a gentle, sympathetic smile before getting up.

It was now his turn to be soaked by the raindrops. Pulling his jacket over his head, he dashed across the street as he searched for shelter. He stopped below a canopy of a shop and fished out his phone with his clammy hand.

Not only that he was making her wait, but his clothes were also dowsed, and he didn't have an umbrella. The rain has started sheeting down tremendously than before, making it not a good idea to leave his spot and imperceptible to find a store where he could buy an umbrella.

Just his luck.

Then he typed in a message for Hayami: _Sorry, I'll be running late. I'm still waiting for the rain to subside, so I don't know when I will arrive._

Seconds after, he got her reply.

> **𝙷𝚊𝚢𝚊𝚖𝚒:** You don't have an umbrella?
> 
> **𝙲𝚑𝚒𝚋𝚊:** I lost it. We can cancel today if you want.
> 
> **𝙷𝚊𝚢𝚊𝚖𝚒:** Where are you? I'll come and pick you up.

He almost dropped his phone at her response. He didn't want to impose, but he couldn't shake off this minute happiness at the thought of her going out of her way for him. After sending his location, he crossed his arms, rubbing them with his hands due to the chilliness of his damp clothing.

When he had seen her figure approaching his way, he almost broke into a run but remembered that it was still raining. He continued shivering with his glued feet squirming restlessly.

"Let's get you somewhere inside to change your clothes," she said.

A questioning look crossed his face, so she raised a paper bag in her grasp. "Korosensei came to me and gave me a set of clothes while I was on my way here. He said that you need it."

' _I do need it, but –_ ' he thought as he took the bag from her '– _he knew about my predicament and didn't approach me?!_ ' If that had been the case, Hayami wouldn't have to go through all the trouble of meeting him here.

With a blank expression, he said, "Thank you for coming."

"No problem."

The heavy rainfall turned into a drizzle as they headed to a convenience store that Hayami had passed by. While Chiba was changing inside the restroom, she busied herself in the magazines' aisle, picking a magazine to browse through.

Moments later, she felt his presence on the side. She took a look and blinked upon seeing him wearing a purple long-sleeve t-shirt. It has a print of a puppy surrounded by hearts and a rainbow.

Her hand clamped over her mouth as she stifled a laugh, while Chiba was fuming with one fist clenching a newly-bought umbrella.

"You have quite a unique taste for fashion," she teased.

"I will kill that octopus in school," he muttered as he strode forward to the entrance.

He was well aware that the choice of the shirt was deliberate. As for what reason, it didn't matter. He would have his revenge on the yellow octopus whether it would be by assassination or not.

Following behind, she asked, "You want my help?"

He turned towards her, back to his calm façade. "Sure. We can make Korosensei –"

When they had stepped out through the sliding glass doors, both of them halted their steps. Up in the sky was the sun emerging from the clouds with glazing rays that made them squint. Then, like magic, a rainbow gradually revealed itself overhead.

They shared a look as a smile carved their faces. Despite the turn of events, Chiba thought that sometimes this type of weather wasn't too bad.

_I hope the cat in the alley is doing fine. Maybe I should bring it to the animal shelter later._

Hiding from afar, their homeroom teacher and target, Korosensei, was scribbling on his notebook enthusiastically with his face pink as a cotton candy. Even if it lacked some flare, he still liked the outcome of his scheme.

In his observation of his students, he sensed a potential in them when it comes to young teenage romance. With that, an idea to write a novel sparked within him, using the students' interactions as his inspiration and source material.

But that was only his excuse to harvest some love gossip from Class 3-E. Who wouldn't be intrigued with romantic fluff from a bunch of younglings like them?

He closed his notebook after and stared up to marvel at the spectrum of colors in the sky. After teaching the students for a short duration, he has come to change his perception of the rain.

He once thought of it to be an allegory of gloom and being restricted. But now, the rain was a precedent of hope and mirth.


End file.
